Albus Severus and the Dark Mark's Return
by J84NV12
Summary: Albus is on his way to Hogwarts for his first year. But something happens on the train. Something horrible and unexpected. Albus, Rose, and Scorpius find out some things they shouldn't know, then something happens that leaves everyone devastated and confused!
1. Chapter 1: The Hogwarts Express

Chapter 1: The Hogwarts Express

"Come on already Rose! Let's find a place to sit! How about with some cousins?" goaded Albus to Rose.

"Where though? Not James, he'd never let us. What about Molly? I'm sure she would. Although, there are a lot more cousins that would let us," inquired Rose.

Albus hit his head with his hand. "Oh! We have so many cousins. Let me just get my list out."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "You keep a list?"

Albus looked at her confused. "Well of course I do. You don't? I can just pull it out whenever I need to. It makes things so much easier."

Rose laughed, "Albus, you do know that by the time you do figure out whom to sit with, we'll be at Hogwarts."

Albus sighed, "Yeah, you're probably right. Let's just keep on walking until we find a compartment with a cousin."

So the two walked through the train looking for a familiar face to sit with. They must have all been in the back because it sure took a while.

They did find a compartment with a kid around their age sitting alone, reading a book, _Hogwarts a History_.

"Hey Albus, do you think we should sit with him? He looks kind of lonely," whispered Rose.

"Yeah," replied Albus.

They opened the compartment and stepped in shyly.

"Hi! If you don't mind, could we please sit here? We can't seem to find any of our cousins which is odd because we have quite a lot!" rambled Rose cheerfully.

"Of course!" the blond boy replied.

"Thank you. I'm Albus by the way, Albus Potter. This is my cousin Rose Weasley," smiled Albus.

"Hey! I know who your parents are! They're on Chocolate Frog cards! But WOW!" the kid said in a big breath. He then added, "Oh, my name is Scorpius Malfoy."

"Oh, uh, Malfoy?" Rose said looking quite taken aback.

Scorpius' eyes suddenly widened, "Oh, no! Please don't think I believe in that pure blood silliness! That's gone! I'm not like that! Please believe me!"

Now it was Albus and Rose's turn to be wide-eyed. "No. It's okay, we believe you. Don't freak out!" assured Albus.

"So, are you two first years too?" said Scorpius.

"Oh, yeah. We are," Rose replied.

At that time, a freakishly beautiful girl stepped in. Immediately, Scorpius fell off his seat, his face in awe.

The girl's face turned in alarm. "Oh! Let me help you!" But Scorpius wasn't paying attention.

"Hey! I can blow up the face of the earth with one spell I created!"

The girl laughed a friendly laugh, "Oh, well I don't think that's legal I'm afraid!"

Scorpius gasped, "You're afraid?! Don't worry, I'm here!"

"Let's tell him now," Albus laughed.

"Scorpius! Dominique is part Veela!" Rose yelled in front of Scorpius' face.

Veela were simply beautiful creatures that easily charm most males with their looks and cause them to say or do many extreme things that they would otherwise never do or accomplish.

Scorpius went out of the trance quickly. "Huh? Oh. No wonder. Still, she's _beautiful_!" muttered Scorpius. "How come you're not saying stupid things, Albus?"

Dominique answered that, "Well, he _is_ used to it. We see each other a lot since we're cousins.

"Tonight, I'm going down to the Ministry to become the youngest Minister of Magic ever!" squealed Scorpius, in a daze again.

Dominique looked concerned, "Maybe I should go."

"No! It's okay. I'll just turn the other way," muttered Scorpius.

"Oh, no. It's fine. I just wanted to find Rose and Albus. I'll be off now. Bye!" said Dominique shaking her head. "Bye!" replied the three. She stepped out as her long, brown hair swished, causing Scorpius to gasp.

"So I think I hear the trolley coming. Let's get some candy!" piped up Scorpius. He was definitely correct because the trolley came wheeling through with all kinds of Wizarding sweets. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Jelly Slugs, and Liquorice Wands name all on the trolley. Albus knew them all!

"Hello boys and young lady!" the trolley witch said cheerfully. "What would you like today?"

Rose looked at Albus and Scorpius with a smirk on her face, and then said, "We'll take 5 of everything please! Oh, and 5 extra Chocolate Frogs!"

"I'll help pay!" said Scorpius quickly. "That will be 14 sickles!" said the trolley witch. The three split their money and got the candy.

"Mmmmm," Scorpius let slip, "I LOVE chocolate!"

"Oh hey, here's Mum!" said Rose excitedly, "I have like 15 of her already though.

HERMIONE WEASLEY (GRANGER)

This intelligent Gryffindor muggle-born witch contributed greatly in the defeat of the terrible Lord Voldemort! The smarts of the Golden Trio also got many rights for Squibs, Muggles, Muggle-borns, and House-elfs! She went back to Hogwarts for her seventh year and is now an Auror.

"Gee! I'm surprised they even used Voldemort's name!" scoffed Scorpius.

"I know right!" replied Albus.

Then at that time, the compartment door opened and a boy with brownish-reddish hair Mohawk-style stepped in.

"Hi Fred," greeted Albus.

"Hey Albus, Rose. Who's this? Slicked back blond hair, pale skin, gray eyes, you must be a Malfoy! Why are you hanging out with _him_? I'm surprised he hasn't called you filthy blood traitors yet, or has he?"

Rose widened her eyes, "Fred no!" But it was too late. Scorpius was on the verge of crying, his eyes filled with tears. The poor kid. "Fred! He begged us not to judge him as a pure blood maniac! He's not like that!" said Albus giving his cousin a death stare.

Fred immediately looked sorry. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean that! I just thought, well the Malfoys were, well, you know… I'm really sorry!"

Scorpius smiled at the apology. "It's okay, my family _has_ been pretty crazy about that stuff."

"Anyway, I came here to tell you that we'll be at Hogwarts in around ten minutes so you'd better get your robes on," said Fred.

"What's Hogwarts like?" came Rose's voice out from behind her light red hair as she rummaged through her suitcase for her robes.

Fred grinned, "You'll just have to wait until you get there to find out."

"Ugh!" said Albus as he finally found his robes crumbled up. "Let's go change now," he said grumpily.

"Okay," agreed Scorpius as he picked up his robes. The three went to the bathrooms to change their robes.

When they came out, the sight amazed them! It left Albus with his mouth opened in shock at the place he was going to stay for practically the whole year! A _spectacular_ sight for sure! Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!

"Wow! I knew Hogwarts was big and grand, but I never imagined it was _THIS_ big and grand!" said Scorpius slowly.

"I know right!" said Albus and Rose together in perfect coordination. They then looked at each other awe-struck.

Scorpius went on, "Father said Hogwarts—" What Draco Malfoy said about Hogwarts they didn't hear, for at that precise moment, a frightened looking boy dashed up to them and yelled, "IT'S THE DARK MARK! RUN TO YOUR COMPARTMENT EVERYBODY! UNLESS THERE'S A DEATH EATER IN THERE!"


	2. Chapter 2: The Dark Mark!

Chapter 2: The Dark Mark?!

Suddenly, everyone froze. There were 3 cracks, and a bellowing voice outside the train, "WHO PLAYED THIS PRANK?!" Then another voice, "Ron, calm down! You sound like Diggory!" Another voice, "Dean!"

Yet another 2 cracks were heard barely a fraction of a second apart. Then 2 women's voices overlapping one another, though each one could be heard quite clearly. One shrieked, "RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY! JUST BECAUSE I WAS WORKING ON SOMETHING ELSE IN THE **_AUROR _**OR **_DARK WIZARD CATCHER_** OFFICE DOES _NOT _MEAN THAT YOU DO NOT INFORM ME ABOUT THIS!"

The other voice screamed, "HARRY JAMES POTTER! HOW DARE YOU NOT INFORM ME ABOUT THE DEATH EATERS MARK IS CAST ABOVE CHILDREN?! AND NOT JUST BECAUSE I WORK FOR THE DAILY PROPHET!"

Ron and Harry looked terrified by their wives sudden and angry appearance. They spluttered to think of an excuse for Hermione and Ginny, but they were too slow. Or at least Harry was. He never was great at Occlumency, the magical art of blocking out the mind from Legilimency, the magical art of breaking into the mind and delving into the deepest thoughts.

"Now don't even try to do that! You know you can't! So answer me or I'll get it out of you!" said Ginny sternly.

Ron however, knew Occlumency and got off. "Honey, I was in a big rush! Sorry!" Hermione just rolled her eyes at her husband's lame excuse.

The other man, Dean, a family friend, spoke, "Okay people, I'd love to break up this fight, so let me remind you, THE DARK MARK!"

"Oh. Yes. Right," said Harry, glad to escape Ginny's clutches.

Harry and the rest of the Aurors along with Ginny (who was the editor of the Quidditch section of the Daily Prophet) and Hermione (who was Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement) walked into the train.

"Mum! Dad!" said both Albus and Rose. Perfect coordination again! They again whirled their heads to each other kind of freaked out.

Ginny and Hermione ran to them. "Oh thank goodness you're okay! We need to look in the compartments and ask if anyone is missing!" Hermione gasped.

"We're on it!" Harry and Ron said together. They then proceeded to opening the compartment doors to some very scared kids.

At that time, James, Fred, and Louis came bursting out of a compartment with Molly behind them.

"What the—"is all they got to say before they were bombarded with 2 very worried aunts hugging them.

"Aunt Ginny! Aunt Hermione!" was heard from the hugging crowd that had a majority of kids that were pretty embarrassed.

Suddenly, Ginny pulled away. "Dominique, Victoire, where are they?!"

"They're in the compartment over there!" said Louis concernedly. He was right for at that moment, Victoire and Dominique stepped out.

Before they could ask about anything though, Louis darted over to them and gave his sisters a huge hug!

"All the kids on here are okay!" said Harry walking towards where everyone else was.

"Um, I'm suddenly really cold!" Ginny said nervously.

"Dementor," whispered Harry in a deadly voice.

All the Aurors and Ginny ran outside and immediately, Albus heard his mum yell, "_EXPECTO PATRONUM!_" Again, she said, "_Incarcerous!_" Now the Dementor was tied up.

Then Dean's voice, "We need to send a Patronus to the Ministry! Harry, your stag is the fastest!" "Got it! _Expecto Patronum!_ Dementor at Hogsmeade Station! We have it caught and a Patronus. Send someone from the right Department or Office to Apparate NOW!" came Harry's panicked voice speaking into his stag Patronus, "GO PRONGS!"

CRACK! "Ernie! The Dementor, it's here!" Hermione said concernedly.

"Stupefy!" said Ernie, the Ministry worker at the Dementor. It fell back. "Harry, I need permission for the Imperius Curse."

"I Harry Potter, Head Auror give you Ernie Macmillan permission for the Unforgivable Imperius Curse to perform on a creature that should not be here," Harry said in a monotone.

Ernie took a deep breath, "Imperio." Nothing happened.

"Um, Ernie, I think you need to point the wand at the Dementor," Hermione said gently.

"Oh, um, yes. It's the first time I'm doing the Imperius on the job," said Ernie nervously.

"_Imperio_," he said quickly. He then cleared his throat. "Go back to the islands where you belong and don't stop to make anyone miserable on the way," he commanded.

The kids heard a 'whoosh' and two cracks. Then the Aurors came back into the train.

All except Harry who was still outside. "_Finite_," he said.

Even though he couldn't see it, Albus knew the Dark Mark was gone.

"Everybody, there is no need to panic. We will find out how this happened. The Death Eaters' mark will not be ignored," Ron told the Hogwarts Express.

Harry came in at that moment, "Ok guys, it's gone."

"Well, kiddos, you guys will probably be seeing more of us at Hogwarts," smiled Dean warmly at the kids.

With that, they Disapparated with some CRACKS.


	3. Chapter 3: Hogwarts, We're Here!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the amazing Harry Potter Universe!

Chapter 3: Hogwarts, We're Here!

"Merlin's Beard, that was surprising!" Louis broke the eerie silence.

"Um, well, what do we do now?" asked Rose awkwardly.

As if her question brought back reality, an older girl walked through a door in the front of the train to tell everyone, "Okay, second years and up go out to the carriages which will take you over to Hogwarts. Once you get into them, you'll start moving. Now first years, you go with Hagrid, the Gamekeeper, who will take you up to Hogwarts via the Black Lake. It's tradition that the first years sail across it to get to Hogwarts and the seventh years sail back at the end. No need to worry about that now though. By the way, I'm the new Gryffindor fifth year prefect."

"Talk much?" a boy with dark brown hair sniggered loudly.

"Shut up Flint!" snapped Molly Weasley, a cousin.

Suddenly, the Flint kid pulled out his wand and shot a hex at Molly, whose eyes widened in shock as she dodged it. She then cast a Shield Charm knowingly, "_Protego_!"

Much to her disdain, as she tried to disarm her fellow third year, he ducked it.

The Slytherin muttered something and a bright orange light shot out of his wand and to everyone's surprise, (who were glued to the ground thanks to Flint's accidental magic) the Shield Charm crumbled.

Molly was shocked at such Dark Magic and Flint took the chance to shoot a _Flagrante_ curse at Molly's hairpin which caused her to yelp slightly as the curse caused any object to burn anything in contact with it. She fell back as Flint smirked in triumph.

With his concentration lost, Flint unintentionally unglued everyone.

"WHAT'S GOIN' ON RIGH' HERE?" bellowed a voice, Hagrid! Flint was scared out of his wits.

"Nothing Professor!" he said as he shoved his wand away.

"Don't try ter act like yeh dunno anything! I saw wha' yeh were doin'! Tha's fifty points from Slytherin and 3 detentions. Also, we're goin' ter see the headmaster for such Dark Magic!" Hagrid said angrily.

"Molly, yeh okay?" Hagrid asked worriedly. But she wasn't conscious from the burns.

"Hagrid, can I just take her to the hospital wing?" Louis, another cousin said.

"Yep, Madam Macdonald will be able to fix her up," replied Hagrid.

"Okay. Well, now, firs' years over here," said Hagrid loudly so everyone could hear.

Albus, Rose, and Scorpius along with many other first years that came out of their compartments followed Hagrid.

They went to the Black lake and found a canoe that they went in along with Hagrid.

"Hagrid, who do you think cast the Mark?" asked Rose.

"Well, Rose, I can tell yeh fer sure that it wasn' Draco Malfoy," replied Hagrid. He continued, "Or ol' Lucius."

"I didn't want to say anything about that," said Scorpius nervously.

"Hagrid, this is Scorpius Malfoy," introduced Albus.

Hagrid smiled a she peddled across, "Well hello Scorpius."

"Hi Professor Hagrid!" greeted Scorpius cheerfully.

"Oh, jus' because I'm a professor doesn' mean yeh gotta call meh Professor. Call me Hagrid!" said Hagrid cheerfully.

"Well, we're here now," he said.

The four got out of the canoe and made their way towards the castle.

Hagrid then signaled for everyone to listen up. "Come in ter Hogwarts' main entrance which will lead yeh all in ter the Great Hall. Professor Longbottom will tell yeh more abou' the Sorting then," he instructed. As he did, he pulled out a huge key from his bag and put it into the huge keyhole.

The two huge doors opened as Hagrid pulled out the magical key revealing a humongous lit up room filled with torches on the side and floating candles with dancing fire in it. Literally!

There were 4 long tables each with a banner at the wall on the end. Albus knew these were the four Hogwarts houses. The one on the far right had green and silver colors. To be specific, a green background with a silver serpent in the middle.

The next one had a red background with a ferocious gold lion in the middle of it.

The one after that had a black badger with a yellow background.

The one on the far left had a blue background with a bronze eagle.

Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw.

"Well everybody. Hello and welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In a few moments, you will be sorted into your house. While you are here at Hogwarts, your house will be your home, your family. Good behavior and intelligence in class will earn your house points. Bad behavior will lose your house points. At the end of the school year, the house with the most points will win the House Cup," a tall man with dark brown hair said.

"Okay Hagrid, you can go now. Thank you," he smiled and said to the huge bearded half-giant. Hagrid walked over to the staff table.

Albus knew who the man was. It was Neville! A good family friend!

"Hi Neville!" piped up Rose. Albus waved with her. Neville smiled and waved back.

Well everyone! I'm Herbology teacher, Head of Gryffindor House, and Deputy Headmaster. As most of you know, after years of research in the Department of Ministries, they have finally found a spell to move the portraits in the Headmaster's Office. So our headmaster is once again, Albus Dumbledore!"

The first years watched Neville (or Professor Longbottom to most of them) go up to the front and pick up a list. Beside him, on a three-legged stool, sat the Sorting Hat. Torn and tattered, it sang:

_"Many, many centuries ago,_

_Four sorcerers got an idea,_

_To build a school the best one yet,_

_And teach their students magic._

_Salazar took the cunning,_

_The ones with purest blood,_

_They'll use any means,_

_To take the things they want._

_Godric took the brave,_

_The ones with chivalry,_

_They'll fight and fight with courage,_

_And won't ever give up._

_Helga said she'd take the kind,_

_The loyal, just, and warm,_

_They'll never betray the good,_

_And always be so fair._

_Rowena oh how clever she was,_

_She took the smart and intelligent,_

_They'll ace their tests and use their wit,_

_To make the best in what they can._

_These four founders made me,_

_To place the young ones correctly,_

_So don't try to hide anything from me,_

_I'll see inside your head,_

_Since I'm the Sorting Hat!"_

The Sorting Hat finished its song and the Great Hall was filled with crackling applause.

Neville had to cast the _Sonorus_ charm with his wand to magnify his voice so he could be heard. "I will now call out your names and you will come and put the Sorting Hat on."

"Altice Ruby." A not at all scared looking girl with light brown curls and a smirk on her face proudly strode up to the front and put the hat on. It could be seen murmuring something, but only it and Ruby Altice knew. After about thirty seconds, it bellowed, "SLYTHERIN!" The girl smirked yet again and walked over to the Slytherins.

"Boot, Cameron."

"HUFFLEPUFF!" Cameron shyly ran off to the Hufflepuff table.

"Bradies, Brody."

"GRYFFINDOR!" Brody seemed extremely joyful that _that_ was over with.

"Fawley, Pickens."

"RAVENCLAW!" Pickens scurried over to the cheering Ravenclaws.

"Gallin, Mary."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Ingrid, Kaitlyn."

"GRYFFINDOR!" Kaitlyn looked as if her head would explode form excitement.

Around 10 people were called up. Give or take a few, Albus lost count.

"M-Malfoy, Scorpius," stuttered Neville. Albus thought he had a feeling he knew why. Everyone watched Scorpius walk up. After all, there must be a reason why Professor Longbottom stuttered.

Scorpius sat on the three-legged stool and put the hat on. It had barely touched him when it let out a yelp! It started mumbling profusely until it finally yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Scorpius walked over to the Gryffindor table looking rather baffled. The same could be said for most Gryffindors and especially Neville. He went on though.

"Osborne, Marina." A girl with an average shade of brown hair ran up to the front and put the hat on herself. It barely touched her when it yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Next was Albus' turn. He was so nervous about being put in Slytherin; he actually thought that he could burst into flames due to all the pressure!

_Okay Albus, it's okay. Just tell the Sorting Hat that you don't want to be put in Slytherin,_ Albus told himself calmly.

"Potter, Albus," smile Neville.

Albus walked slowly up to the front, sat on the three-legged stool, took a deep breath and thought, _this is it_, then placed the hat on his head, and waited.

"Hmm. Hard, very hard. Even harder than your father, you are. He of course had a part of the Heir of Slytherin, though he was a true Gryffindor. You, my friend, you are your own. Where do you go?"

_Not Slytherin!_ Albus thought.

"Just like your father then eh? I'm just messing with you; we all know who you truly are. You belong in… GRYFFINDOR!"


	4. Chapter 4: Staircase Riddles

Disclaimer: I don't own the fabulous Universe of Harry Potter!

Chapter 4: Staircase Riddles

Albus was beside himself with joy, happiness, excitement, and every good feeling there is! He took the hat off, set it down on the chair, and ran off to the Gryffindor table where he was greeted by his cousins and brother who cheered him up by saying, "Well, I guess I was wrong Al, you did get in Gryffindor. But I did hear that sometimes the Sorting Hat goes bonkers and puts some kids in houses they would never belong to. So just make sure that for your whole time at Hogwarts, you should make sure the Sorting Hat never gets near you so it can't tell you that it made a mistake and you belong in Slytherin!"

"You can't trick me Jamesie!" retorted Albus. He knew his brother hated it when he was called that. It was a girl name! He always preferred his real name, James.

That joy was short-lived though, for it was overtaken by surprise along with many other soon to be shocked people heard:

"Riddle, Merope," Neville said. After about almost a second later, his eyes bulged out from his head! "A-Albus," he said to Dumbledore's portrait. (Albus was named after him). Even Dumbledore looked surprised. That was because 'Riddle' was the last name of Voldemort's dad's side, thus his own last name! 'Merope' was the first name of Voldemort's mother! Thus the name of a descendant of Salazar Slytherin!

In all of the tension, nobody noticed a scared-looking, timid girl with dark brown hair make her way up to the front. She put the Sorting Hat onto herself and immediately, it yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Neville looked shocked, yet relieved. Dumbledore just smiled. They must've decided to talk about it later, because things went on.

"Slemon, Vall."

"RAVENCLAW!" yelled the Sorting Hat as Vall proudly walked over to them, smiling to himself.

"Weasley, Rose," said Neville smiling at her. Rose ran up to the three-legged stool and did the procedure. "GRYFFINDOR!" She ran down and sat beside Albus who beamed at her.

"Xover, Yale."

"SLYTHERIN!"

Zolke, Mills."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Well everyone. That now concludes the Sorting Ceremony. I would now like to say a few words. Dumbo, Penguin, Leftover, Change! Now tuck in!" said Dumbledore.

"FOOD!" yelled Vall who was quite fat.

Everybody quickly picked up their utensils and 'tucked in'!

Albus turned to Rose. "Merope Riddle? What do you think Rose? I was terrified until she didn't get into Slytherin!"

"I really don't know what to think either!" replied Scorpius.

Rose was too busy eating to pay attention. Just like her dad. Not that either of them were fat.

"Well we could talk to Dad. He's going to be here because of the whole, you know, the whole Dark Mark thing," said Albus.

"Yeah, we could. Albus, what do you think all your cousins and their parents will think if me?" Scorpius asked worriedly.

"Oh. Did you ask that because of Fred?" Albus asked seriously with his eyebrows raised. Scorpius just nodded.

Albus started off, "Welllll, all my uncles and Dad will most likely assume that you're a pure blood supremacist without knowing any facts. Once we tell them, you'll be fine. Well, maybe Uncle Ron will still be a bit, well, you get what I mean. Now Mum and Aunt Hermione will need to know the facts. Aunt Angelina will need to know more. Aunt Audrey really doesn't know. Aunt Fleur does have quite the temper though. She was in the Order. Um, well let's just say that we need to explain all the facts to them."

Scorpius looked stunned. "How many aunts and uncles do you have?"

"I have four first aunts and five first uncles. I obviously have more indirect ones because I'm a Potter and a Weasley which makes me a Prewett and my great-grandmother was a Black, and well, I'm mixed with mostly pure blood relatives. So my point is that I have more aunts and uncles just not too direct ones because, well, since all pure blood families are somehow inter-related," smiled Albus. He himself was surprised that he actually said all of that in one breath.

"What are we talking about here?" asked Rose after gobbling up everything she had. Albus then explained to Rose about how different conversations lead to others.

"Wait, I thought you had two twin uncles?" Scorpius asked, confused.

"Oh, Fred, he was Uncle George's brother. Ever heard of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes? Fred and George used to run that. Fred died in the Battle of Hogwarts. Stinkin' Augustus Rookwood got him with a Blasting Curse. I'm glad he got the Dementor's Kiss. Stupid Death Eaters!" explained Albus. He muttered the last part.

"W-Well, the bad ones only, right? S-Some of them really didn't want to though," stuttered Scorpius.

"Well, the ones that were eager to join then wanted to back out since they had no idea what they were in for. Or the ones that were forced to join," said Albus. "Like your father or Regulus Black. Dad told me Regulus Black was a Death Eater, but then backed out and tried to do something which would make it easier for Voldemort to be destroyed," Albus said enthusiastically for knowing so much.

"Yeah! Mum, Dad, and Uncle Harry told us a lot about what they found out when they were on the run during the New Regime!" piped up Rose.

Albus said slowly, "Speaking of the 'Golden Trio'…" The three turned around to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione, along with Dean and another Auror, Fay Dunbar. The Great Hall watched Neville run down and meet them.

They walked up to the front and said hello to Dumbledore. Then he spoke, "I believe it is time for dessert!" The feast food which consisted of fries, potatoes, roast chicken, stuffing, baked turkey, salads, and many more wonderful dying for foods disappeared and instead, pudding, ice cream, cookies, and many different Honeydukes (a sweet shop in Hogsmeade village near the school) sweets. People immediately 'tucked in' again.

When they were done, Neville got their attention by using the _Sonorus_ charm again. "Okay everyone, calm down now. The headmaster has something to say."

"As most of you know, Auror Harry Potter often comes to Hogwarts to give Defense Against the Dark Arts speeches. To those first years, well now you know! Now though, you all know this other Auror, Ronald Weasley. Also, Hermione Weasley will be here with us for the time being. So you will welcome them and treat them with the same respect as you do your teacher, or you _should_ do at least," said Dumbledore with an unnoticeable twinkle in his eye. (His portrait wasn't too big). He went on merrily, "You will do the same with Aurors Dean Thomas and Fay Dunbar. Thank you! Off to bed now, pip pip!"

Immediately, there was a scramble as the prefects' voices could be heard saying, "First years follow me!" along with each one's respective house.

Albus, Rose, Fred, Dominique, James, Victoire, and Scorpius (Who was timidly following Rose and Albus who dragged him along to get it over with.) scurried up to the front to say hello to, well, their parents, dad, and aunt and uncles, that kind of thing basically.

"Dad! Uncle Ron! Aunt Hermione! This is Scorpius!" exclaimed Albus. He would take it slow.

Ron narrowed his eyes, faltered his smile, and tilted his head slightly, then said, "Scorpius Malfoy?"

"Yes, he's my friend. Rose's too. Don't worry; I know what you're thinking. He doesn't care about blood status or anything like that," explained Albus.

Harry nodded, not quite convinced, and Ron looked very well not convinced! Hermione however, smiled at them and said, "Okay well, you kids should go to bed now. We'll be in a tent right outside the Gryffindor common room."

"Okay bye!" Rose said.

"Well I have to go to the Owlery to send a letter to my mum and dad to tell them what house I got in," said Scorpius.

"We'll go with you!" Rose exclaimed. So the three of them got down and ran up to the Owlery on the seventh floor. All of them, growing up in Wizarding families, knew how the staircases move, walls pretend to be doors and verse visa, and worst of them all, Peeves! So they watched their steps as they went and looked closely at suspicious looking walls and doors.

When they finally reached, they opened the door and went up some steps until a room filled with all different types of owls came to their sight.

Albus recognized his own Snowy Owl, Hedwig. It was named after his father's Snowy Owl who died in the Battle of the Seven Potters. She had been a very loyal and intelligent owl. Albus' owl seemed to have those exact same traits. He often wondered if Hedwig the First came back as Hedwig the Second.

"Oh look! There's some paper and pencil. There's my owl, Sophie!" piped up Scorpius.

He took the paper and pencil to write his letter. After about 2 minutes, Scorpius put down the pencil and tied the paper to Sophie. "Take it to Mum and Dad okay? Malfoy Manor." Sophie nipped her beak to Scorpius in response, and then flew out the window.

"Well, let's get to the common room now," said Albus yawning. The three went outside the Owlery only to find that they had absolutely no idea how to get to the common room. They knew how to get to the Owlery, well, because, everyone knows the Owlery is on the highest floor! Every magical person does at least.

"Well let's just go the way we came and ask somebody in the Great Hall," Rose suggested.

"Just one teensy weensy problem," said Albus, "The staircases!"

Scorpius suddenly looked alert as if he had gotten an idea. "Er, let's just go on one of them and eventually we'll find _somebody_ who can help us!"

So they took the staircase which they thought was the one they came from and went down the stairs.

As they were, they saw someone going down a few staircases below them. They walked faster to get a closer look and could see clearly that it was none other than Merope Riddle!

AN:

Hey everybody! This is my first author's note! I just wanted to let you guys know that I can sometimes get a little busy with school and stuff... I'm in high school... I also want to let you know that I have all the chapters done of this; the story is complete, but I have to edit and revise it as I go because I wrote this when I was younger, so it needs revision. I don't want to make it sound amateur. That's why... so yeah, it think that's it... BYEEEEEE Please review.


	5. Chapter 5: Rose vs Scorpius

Chapter 5: Rose vs. Scorpius

"Oh, hi!" Merope said nervously.

"Hello!" said Rose cheerfully. Even though he hated himself for it, and hated admitting it too, Albus thought she was quite brave to do that. Her name was a coincidence! Probably.

"Do you by any chance know the way to our common room?" asked Rose.

"Oh, you go back up, take a turn, and on the seventh floor corridor is the Gryffindor common room. The password is 'bubotuber pus'," replied Merope.

Rose beamed at her, "Okay, thanks. Just out of curiosity, where are you going?"

"Headmaster's office."

The two smiled at each other before walking off in the different directions.

Rose now led the way, the two boys trailing behind her.

"It is a _really_ good thing we met Merope on the way!" said Rose looking back at the two boys as they walked.

"You mean it's a really good thing we found out the way to the common room **_AND_**that the daughter of Lord Voldemort is going to the Headmaster's office when she doesn't even know where it is!" said Scorpius darkly.

"SCORPIUS!" Rose yelled. Scorpius jumped back out of surprise. Rose then went on with her newly started rant, "How could you say that? Merope is a very nice and timid girl, and about the Headmaster's office, she must've consulted someone that knew before! It's not like you know anyways! May I also bring to your attention that she's in Gryffindor!" snapped Rose angrily. "You know what; you're just like any other Malfoy! Prejudice without thinking! I never should have stood up for your lies about not being prejudice! It might not be about blood status, but you're still prejudice and I can't believe I thought otherwise! You're a Malfoy! You'll always be nothing more than a Malfoy!"

All this time, Albus was quiet watching his cousin and new friend feud. Feud about a so-called 'certain Dark wizard's _daughter_'. Personally, he believed in Rose's theory. After about a minute or so, Albus was too lost in thoughts to notice Scorpius' hurt face as he ran off to the common room muttering the password.

"Oi, really girl? Don't you think that was a bit harsh?" snapped the Fat Lady who was the portrait of Gryffindor Tower.

Rose clamped a hand to her mouth, "Scorpius, wait!" She reached out her hand and gasped. Albus ran after _her_.

All of his thoughts were lost when he saw the Gryffindor common room though. Merlin! It was an extravagant circle-shaped room with gold and red all over it. It had cozy cushions and comfy armchairs filling it up. He knew he was going to love it!

His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the prefect from the train, "Oh! Here you 3 are! I was told that you had gone to the Owlery and to make sure you got back okay. Yes, I should've waited outside there though, I didn't think about it before." She pointed at Scorpius and Albus, and then smiled, "The boys dorms are that way." She motioned towards the spiral staircase on the right. "You will be in the dorm that way," she said to Rose pointing at the other stairs.

Albus and Scorpius walked up, and as they did, they caught a glimpse of Rose darting up the stairs in tears.

When they got to their dormitory, they weren't surprised to see 3 other boys already unpacking on their beds that they had chosen. Albus recognized them from the Sorting, Brody Bradies, Gary Jambles, and some Mack guy whose full name he couldn't remember. They all looked at Albus and Scorpius curiously. Albus didn't blame them; they had come in about 20 minutes later than everyone else.

"Hello! I'm Mack Lenskin!" said Mack, a skinny boy with brown hair.

"Brody Bradies," Brody greeted smiling. He was a shy-looking boy who had blond hair that covered his left eye.

"I'm Gary Jambles!" piped up Gary who had black hair that just stayed nice and neat. Albus thought that was quite odd, considering the Potter men's hair was straight in a line of untidy black hair! He wasn't an exception.

"Scorpius Malfoy!" said Scorpius not so cheerfully. He was still sore from Rose's harsh words. "Before you jump to conclusions, I am NOT a crazy pure blood fanatic," he said plainly and calmly. The rest of the boys just nodded.

"Hi! I'm Albus Potter," smiled Albus. "Well, I'm pretty slee―" started Albus, but was cut off by Mack (which he was expecting… and dreading) who exclaimed incredulously, "Potter? Your father is Harry Potter!"

Albus chuckled nervously and muttered, "Er, yes, I knew that actually."

"Mack! You're overwhelming him! He must have to hear that all the time!" Gary said shooting Mack a look. Albus assumed that they knew each other before coming to Hogwarts.

"Well, as I was saying, I'm pretty sleepy now. A Sleepy Gryffindor, that's me!" Albus yawned.

The boys went on (or started) unpacking. Albus pulled out his Holyhead Harpies poster, (his mum used to play for them) and stuck it on his wall beside his four poster bed on the far right side of the dormitory.

Once everyone was settled in, they got into their beds and closed their eyes to go off to sleep. Albus drifted into the Land of Dreams immediately. His dream wasn't about sliding down rainbows with his friends. It showed Rose and Scorpius shouting at the top of their lungs and pointing all over the place. Coming out of their mouths were bubbles showing 2 different images. Both images of Merope. From Scorpius, images of Merope casting the Dark Mark came out. From Rose, images of Merope smiling cheerfully. It was kind of a bummer that the dreams that filled Albus' night on the first day of Hogwarts weren't exactly brilliant…


	6. Chapter 6: Breakfast and Potions

Chapter 6: Breakfast and Potions!

Albus wake up! We have exactly 17 minutes to get to the Great Hall for breakfast!" came a voice. It was Scorpius. Then there were footsteps, they became louder and louder. "Albus come on! What's tak—" started Rose. Albus assumed she stopped since she just now noticed Scorpius in the room.

He heard Rose walk over to him, pull off the covers, and scream, "WAKE UP SLEEPYHEAD!"

Albus sat bolt right up. "What in the world?!" he exclaimed alarmed.

Rose frowned, crossed her arms, and shrugged. "You weren't waking up."

Albus ignored her simple and extremely irritating comment and scurried to the bathroom quickly after picking out his Hogwarts robes along with his clothes. Within 6 minutes, he came out of the shower and was getting dressed.

"Come on Albus," Rose mumbled seeing him come out. By her attitude, he guessed that Scorpius must've tried to talk to her. But knowing Rose, she must have just ignored him.

Albus thought back to the dream and decided that he would have to get them to make up. "Guys, I'm not taking sides, but you can't fight over something like this. I'm going to try to look at it from both sides. I will have to get back to you on that though, because right now, we all have exactly 9 minutes to navigate our way to the Great Hall for breakfast!" he exclaimed the last part urging. The 3 of them ran down the stairs, but on one of the bottom steps, Rose slipped down, and Scorpius caught her in his arms immediately. It was something girls would "aww" at if they were watching. She immediately fixed herself up and dashed away from them, but you could see her red cheeks!

"What did I do? I caught her from falling!" snapped Scorpius angrily.

"Well, when she's mad, she can hold a grudge. She must have gotten that from Aunt Hermione," informed Albus.

They walked out of the common room to see Rose waiting with the same prefect that they had already encountered twice.

"You know, I feel like we should know each other's names," said the prefect amusingly. "I'm Emma, Emma Macmillan. My father was at Hogsmeade Station."

"I'm Albus, Albus Potter," greeted Albus. "Scorpius Malfoy," murmured Scorpius.

Albus added quickly, "Don't worry; he won't go around calling people filthy for their blood status or who they associate with. In a few words, he's not a pureblood maniac.

"Okay, good," laughed Emma.

"I'm Rose Weasley," said Rose softly.

"Hey, you 2 are cousins, right?" asked Emma.

"Yep," replied Albus. He assumed that she must know because she's pureblood, therefore, grew up knowing the old Wizarding families.

"Oh my! We'd better go! I'll lead you the shortcut way," exclaimed Emma with a gasp. Rose, Albus, and Scorpius followed. They went through various twists and turns until they reached the Great Hall wide open.

Nearly everyone was there. Now Albus felt sorry for delaying the rest of them.

They walked over to the Gryffindor table and found three empty seats. Emma went off to her friends while the others took a seat.

Albus was too busy thinking about how to get Rose and Scorpius to make up to notice Molly sitting beside him. "Molly?! Are you okay? What happened?!" asked Albus worriedly, hugging his older cousin.

"Okay relax little cuz! I'm okay!" Molly comforted Albus.

"MOLLY?!" yelled Rose. She went and hugged her. After that, Molly told her cousins what happened. "Well, I'm not really sure until I woke up and Madam Macdonald told me that she gave me a Burn Healing paste and two hours later, I woke up."

"Don't worry; Idiot Flint has got 3 detentions! And you know what; I heard that for his first detention, he has to clean the Trophy Room. He has to take down _every single_ trophy and clean it, then put them back in perfect order! Without magic! If he doesn't do exactly that, Filch is going to get him! Man, Filch has worked here for a _really _long time," said James from behind Molly, as if he just Apparated.

"Oh, I totally did _not_ know you were there!" squealed Molly. She then went on with what she was saying, "They told Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione, and Uncle Harry, and man were they mad!"

While they were having or listening to this conversation, Albus, Rose, and Scorpius were gobbling up as much food as they could. The right choice, because just then, Neville came around handing everyone their timetables.

When he got to them, Neville tapped his wand to each paper and ink appeared on them. "There you go," he smiled.

Albus looked at his timetable. His first lesson was Potions, at 8:30 AM. Then at 9:30 to 9:40 there was some time to navigate their way through Hogwarts for only the first years. It would most likely be gone in a week when they know how to get to the classes. At 9:40, he had Herbology. Albus was going to see what he had next, but Neville announced, "Okay everyone, off you go to lessons now!"

Rose was the first one to get up. She followed Emma, who was calling the first years to her along with another boy prefect. They were probably assigned the task of taking the first years to their lessons on their first day.

Since each lesson had students from 2 different houses, the prefects were to lead them to their lessons.

"Oh man! I wanted to see Dad and the rest. Well, I guess it's my own fault for being a sleepyhead," shrugged Albus.

"Eh," replied Scorpius.

Rose, who knew Albus well enough, knew that Albus agreed with her, not Scorpius. Still, she was mad at Albus for not telling Scorpius how much more he knew and that Merope was definitely not Lord Voldemort's daughter. That what he was thinking was nothing else but absolutely bizarre nonsense.

So she went up to the front with her dorm mates, (including Merope).

Emma led the Gryffindors and Slytherins over to the dungeons where Potions class was being held. As soon as they entered, the temperature dropped rapidly. Not because of ghosts, but because the dungeons were, well, just cold.

"Wow! If the 'classroom' is like this, I wonder what the teacher is like," sneered Ruby Altice, making quotes with her fingers for the word, 'classroom'.

"Oh no way, it's just that making potions requires this kind of atmosphere. Especially when kids are practicing. The teacher is great," explained Emma coldly, raising her eyebrows at Ruby. "At least if you're not a Slytherin," Emma smirked.

The Slytherins' frowned, confused. Ruby however, ignored the remark, "Nobody asked YOUR opinion Miss I Can't Shut My Mouth!" She folded her arms and raised her eyebrows the same way it was done to her.

Then Emma raised her eyebrows again. "Excuse me? Talk back to a prefect like that again and we'll see how many points are docked from you!"

Ruby smirked. Albus thought she was going to say something, but kept it in because right then, the potions mistress walked in. She had long blond hair flowing back freely and was very pretty. "Professor Clearwater," whispered Emma to Albus and Scorpius before walking off to her own lessons.

Professor Clearwater wore a beautiful smile on her glowing face. Albus thought she must have been really happy about Hogwarts starting again.

"Hello everyone! Welcome to Hogwarts! I believe I am teaching your very first lesson ever, am I not? And I am teaching the Gryffindors and Slytherins right?" Professor Clearwater said cheerfully. Though he knew he was imagining it, he thought he had heard some displeasure in Professor Clearwater's words when she had mentioned 'Slytherin'.

"To those of you who don't know, I'm Professor Clearwater," she went on, "Now today, we will be learning the basics. You won't actually be brewing real potions for 3 lessons."

Professor Clearwater cleared her throat before going on, "Well, you may take your seats now. After that, please take out you Potions notebook and a pencil."

Everybody picked up their bags, and with their friends, went off to find a table.

Albus and Scorpius found an empty table and sat there quietly. Albus desperately wanted to call Rose over, but knew it would do no good. So instead, he searched through his bag for his pencil and notebook. Albus was too busy doing that to notice two other people join him and Scorpius. When he looked up, he was so shocked to see who it was that he dropped his things. He didn't bother picking it up though. In front of them, were Rose and Merope! Rose! Why would Rose come and sit with them?! She was supposed to be mad at them! Not that he would rather have that.

"Hi Albus! I asked the girls if I could come and sit with my cousin and they were okay. Merope wanted to come too, so…" exclaimed Rose.

She seemed to be paying absolutely no attention whatsoever to Scorpius. Albus really felt bad for him. It was _not_ good and he meant _not_ good to be in Rose's bad books.

"Potions seems really interesting!" smiled Merope.

Scorpius looked at her curiously before saying, "So, you grew up knowing about potions?" Albus could tell that he had tried with all his might to try not to sound pureblood prejudice, but felt like he had failed miserably. So he Scorpius added, "Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm not a pureblood fanatic!"

"Oh no, why would I think that?" inquired Merope confused.

Scorpius was about to answer, but Professor Clearwater cleared her throat.

"Okay, well, the basics are but a few things. First, a bezoar can be found in a goat's stomach and is the antidote to most, if not all, poisons. You know, just in case you're in such a position. Next, you will need the basic potions kit which you should already have, but for future reference. This includes various potions ingredients, (I have not the time to name them all), a small cauldron along with a source of heat, a cutting board, different types of knives, a stirring stick, and many other tools," said Professor Clearwater fast. If she was out of breath, she sure didn't show any sign of it.

She then picked up a huge binder and flipped through it as the kids finished taking their notes. Suddenly, she looked up and gasped. "Oh! I'm sorry. I seem to have made a mistake. You have Double Potions the next time you come see me, so you will be brewing your first potion at that time."

"Ugh! We'll probably just do something like Cure for Boils! Come on! A six-year old can brew that," whispered a Slytherin to his friend.

"Mr. Zolke!" snapped Professor Clearwater. Albus wondered how she knew his name. He figured that she must have remembered it from the Sorting. Still, it's not like she had taken the liberty of remembering every Slytherin's name. The odd thought was shook off though as Professor Clearwater went on.

"I am not a mean teacher, but this will **_not_** be tolerated in my classroom! Five points from Slytherin! I'm only taking five since it's the beginning of the year. You're very lucky!" she said this very sternly.

"Well everyone, for Mr. Zolke's information, we _will_ be brewing the Cure for Boils potion, but he thinks it's so easy. He can do that today. It will be good for the next lesson if you could see it now. Then you'll know what to do, what not to do, and all that. So Mr. Zolke, if you will, then please find the ingredients in your Potions textbook and gather them from your Potion-Making Kit which I had mentioned earlier. Then you can get to work. If a six-year old can do this, I could only imagine how easy it would be for you!" said Professor Clearwater, raising her eyebrows.

Zolke nearly fell off his seat, but to Albus, he looked like someone who wouldn't want to be defeated. So he pulled out his textbook and Potion-Making Kit. Everyone in the classroom stared at Zolke as he opened up his textbook and looked through it, trying to find the Cure for Boils potion page.

When he stopped flipping through, he read and took out some ingredients from his kit. To Albus, they looked absolutely _disgusting_!

Slugs and snake fangs and a few other things like porcupine quills and… dried nettles? Eh. It wasn't much to him. For now at least.

Zolke turned on his stove and put his cauldron on it. He then added the various ingredients.

All of a sudden, there was a horrid stink! Everyone seemed to smell it. If Professor Clearwater did, she took no notice.

"It's melting! The cauldron is melting!" exclaimed one of Rose's dorm mates. Katelyn Ingrid.

Suddenly, Zolke yelped! He was now covered in boils! Professor Clearwater sighed inconsiderately, "You added the porcupine quills_ before_ you took the cauldron off the stove didn't you?"

By the end of the lesson, it was clear that the Potions Mistress clearly had something against Slytherins!


	7. Chapter 7: Herbology- Lumus Solem!

Chapter 7: Herbology: "Lumos Solem!"

"OMG! I **_like her_**! Hey, I've heard that once, there was a teacher, Head of Slytherin House who taught Potions, that was like SO totally biased to the Slytherins and like totally despised everyone else!" said another one of Rose's dorm mates, Marina Osborne.

"Ohh, yeah. I'm named after him," said Albus plainly.

Marina gave Albus a look of confusion and pity before going on chatting with her friends.

The first years were just walking out of Hogwarts' main entrance following Emma to Herbology along with the Hufflepuffs. They walked across the fields to Greenhouse One and stepped in.

"Hello class!" said Neville cheerfully. "This year, we won't actually be dealing with many real plants." There were some 'awws' and 'yes!'s from the class, but Neville paid no attention to them. "We will be learning about the properties of many different plants and discussing how to deal with them. Are there any questions?"

A Hufflepuff raised her hand. "Yes Miss…?" "Gallin, sir, Mary Gallin," Mary said eagerly, yet nervously. "Yes Mary?" replied Neville. "Well, er, professor, the thing is that I… well, er… could I talk to you somewhere else?" she said nervously.

"Oh yes, sure. Rose, tell me if anyone touches anything. You have no idea how dangerous some of these plants can be if not handled with care. Some of them can even be deadly," winked Neville at Rose.

With that, he walked out of the greenhouse along with Mary following timidly behind.

Immediately, Mack opened up his bag and dug through it. "Ah, here we go!" he said smiling mischievously. He pulled out some big object that looked oddly like ears.

"Extendable Ears!" exclaimed Albus and Rose. Rose frowned immediately and cocked her head, "Why do you have Extendable Ears?"

"I keep them with me. Now who wants to hear what Mary is saying to Professor Longbottom?" Mack answered and questioned excitedly.

"Oh, me!" said around five kids. The rest of them were too busy talking to notice. Albus and Scorpius weren't one of them. They wanted to find out. Not in the mean way of finding out something embarrassing about someone, but in a curious way.

Rose frowned even more, "No! That's mean! It's none of your business!"

But her classmates just ignored her. Albus just gave her a glance before going on.

Mack released the Extendable Ears and gave the other sides to the kids.

"…our garden, when a plant started creeping around me. I was scared out of my wits. My mum saw and helped me, but ever since, I've been scared of magical plants. My parents were going to tell the school before, but I told them I would," said Mary.

"Oh, that's okay. I understand. I'll arrange something where you can theoretically learn about plants," said Neville warmly.

He started on something else, but suddenly, a girl screamed! Everyone listening whirled around and the Ears fell away. Mack quickly picked them up and put them in his bag.

On the girl's leg was a small dark plant creeping up suffocating it. Then another girl screamed! On the pot with the plant were the words: _Devil's Snare_.

There was scrambling. Lots and lots of scrambling and movement. People were pulling out their textbooks and looking for something to help. Albus and Scorpius ran to the front to look through Neville's binder panicking, trying to find something to release the girls.

"LUMOS SOLEM!" screamed Merope, pointing it at the devil's Snare. It quickly released the girls looking as if it had shirked back at the light. Everything was quiet.

A few seconds later, Neville walked in. The sight was quite peculiar for him. Albus understood why. If he had walked into his classroom after leaving it for approximately seventy seconds to see four girls purple from suffocation, some sunlight from an eleven-year old girl's wand, a dose of textbooks and notebooks and papers and pencils scattered all over the place, he too would be completely and utterly…stunned!

"What in the name of Merlin happened in here?!" asked Neville with a look that screamed, 'This would be one of my top most surprised moments in my life, next to the time where I fell off of the Hogwarts bridge during a deadly battle.'

"Well, er, you see, these girls were unintentionally leaning against the Devil's Snare and then it crept up on them and people were trying to help by looking through their textbooks and Merope here found the spell and released the Devil's Snare. Just a few seconds ago," explained Rose nervously.

"Okaaaaaaaay, well twenty points to Gryffindor for quick thinking. Are you girls okay?" Neville asked worriedly turning to the four girls. They nodded, obviously scared.

Neville said considerately, "Do you need to go to the hospital wing?"

"Okay," one of the girls nodded shakily for the other three.

Neville took out his wand and muttered something pointing it at the edge of the long table. He then motioned for the girls to follow him. They walked out, and inside the greenhouse, everyone made sure not to lean or touch anything that was there before they got in.

People started cleaning up the mess that they made from trying to help the girls. It was the only sound in the room.

After around five minutes, Neville walked back in. He smiled upon seeing that everything was cleaned up, and then said, "I totally forgot to give both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor ten points each for trying to help and another five points each now for cleaning up."

"Anyway," he started, walking up to the front of the greenhouse, "we won't actually be doing much hands-on activity as I said before this year. Just the basic discussions about the greenhouse plants. In fact, today Merope here did the sunlight producing version of 'Lumos', or the Wand Lighting Charm. That works against Devil's Snare. 'Lumos Solem' is the incantation. Repeat it."

"Lumos Solem," repeated the class. They did it multiple times until Neville instructed them, "Okay, good everyone. There is another spell that repels Devil's Snare, Bluebell Flames. We won't be talking about that until our next lesson though. So for the remaining time of our lesson, we will be practicing the Sunlight Producing Spell. So if you could all line up.

The class made a line and waited. "Now, starting from the person at the front, point your wand over here," explained Neville, pointing at an area in the greenhouse, "then you may say the incantation out loud."

The first person in line was Marina Osborne. She looked quite nervous. Marina brought up her wand and pointed it at the area and muttered, "Lumos Solem." A bright light appeared in the spot and Marina smiled.

"Great job…" started Neville, giving Marina another one of his 'What's your name?' looks. She took the hint and said, "Marina Osborne."

Neville nodded, and then motioned for the next person in line to come up. That person was Scorpius. He walked up and raised his wand. Neville momentarily fidgeted a bit at this action, something which Albus noticed and was sure that nobody else did.

"Lumos Solem," said Scorpius confidently. The sun shone where Scorpius' wand was pointed. Neville just managed to give a weak smile which in a few extremely short moments turned into a grimace and nodded. Scorpius looked quite disappointed for yet again being judged as a pureblood supremacist.

Some more people went and all succeeded, some with struggle, but still in the end, succeeded.

Then it was Merope's turn. She said the incantation slowly, "Lumos Solem." Nothing happened. "That's okay, try again," Neville said warmly. He himself looked surprised at the tone he had used. Albus smiled at that, only enough for him to know.

"Lumos Solem," muttered Merope. Again, nothing happened. "Er, maybe you're just nervous, you've done it before. Sometimes, if a wizard or witch regularly would struggle with a spell, in the time of panic, if they truly cared about what they were doing, they would be able to perform the spell greatly," explained Neville comfortingly. Merope nodded and walked to the back.

Next was Albus' turn. He walked up, pointed his wand at that misfortunate area, (if it was alive) for being scorched by the sun so many times, and said, "Lumos Solem," while concentrating. Again, the sun shone. Albus beamed before walking to the back watching the spell's effects wear off as the concentration wore off.

Since Albus was the last one, everybody looked up to Neville for further directions on what to do.

"Well that's it for today. You don't have any homework since you're coming back to me tomorrow. You will tomorrow though. Sorry, not much I can do about it, it's the standards set by the Ministry, and I've got to enforce them. Anyway, your prefect will be coming soon," Neville announced.

He was correct because right then, Emma walked through the door to escort the first years to lunch. "I can take them Professor," said Emma politely.

"Sure thing Emma," smiled Neville. Emma led the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs out of the greenhouse and towards the castle.

"That was great Merope!" exclaimed Albus. Scorpius shot him a glare-like look. Then Rose did the same to Scorpius and gave an encouraging smile to Albus. Scorpius on the other hand, wouldn't give up on trying to figure out any vibes of being the most powerful Dark Wizard of all time's daughter coming from Merope. Albus decided to just talk to Rose and Scorpius later with maybe his dad or someone.

Albus was so lost in thoughts to see where he was going; he bumped straight into a familiar light brown-headed girl.

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" shrieked Ruby Altice.

"Well you could be a bit nicer about it! It's not like I did it on purpose!" replied Albus coldly.

"Ugh!" Ruby sneered as she rolled her eyes and strode off completely oblivious to the many non-Slytherins narrowing their eyes at her and shaking their heads in disgust.


	8. Chapter 8: Barty Crouch Junior!

Chapter 8: Barty Crouch Junior?!

It was after lunch and Albus still hadn't gotten a chance to speak to his dad, or aunt, or uncle. He had some darn good questions for them about some stuff.

This was driven out of his mind though as the excitement about his Transfiguration class seeped into his mind, knocking away the questions for the Golden Trio.

He headed over to the Gryffindor common room when he saw the tent that the Aurors were staying in. He could go see them now! He _did_ have fifteen minutes to get to class anyway. So he might as well pay a visit.

He walked over to the tent and was about to open the flap when he heard them talking, no arguing.

"Harry?! Are you out of your mind? Bartemius Crouch Junior Harry really? Do you really think that Harry? He got the Dementor's Kiss!" whisper-screamed Hermione.

"But you guys! Come on, think about it. Dementors are Dark creatures, therefore affiliated with Dark wizards like, oh, I dunno,… Lord Voldemort! Before the Second Wizarding War when the Order was secretly reformed and the Ministry was being stupid, the Dementors joined forces with the Dark Side, Mass Breakout of 1996, remember? Voldemort had them with him all the time! Who knows what he could've said to them. Barty Crouch Junior was a _very _loyal and helpful follower of Voldemort. He could've anytime influenced the Dementor that took his soul to, well, give him his soul back! And he could've made the Rudimentary potion to revive his body, or make a new one at least; any common wizard is an enemy of Death Eaters, so he could've just taken blood from them! And the rest would be simple. Get the bone from Crouch Senior's body, not buried far from here! And, well, he would find a servant somewhere to get the blood from. It has never been determined that they can't do that, huh? The Dark Mark, the Dementor, everything! Dean, didn't you say that Ron sounded like Diggory at the Quidditch World Cup, right? Crouch set the Dark Mark off there, and no one was a victim, I don't see any difference here! The Dementor must have brought Crouch's body to Hogsmeade station; it wasn't buried far from there anyway! Don't you understand Hermione? Or you, Ron? Dean? Fay? I'm telling Dumbledore and Neville about what I think!" shouted Harry, breathing heavily due to his anger and saying all that at once. Not to mention his voice rising with every word!

"Uh, Harry, your son is outside," said Fay as Albus panicked watching her turn her head to the flap.

Hermione walked over to push open the flap revealing a wide-eyed yet guilty looking Albus.

"Albus! Why were you eavesdropping! You know you shouldn't have heard that!" scolded Hermione.

"Er, well, I was thinking that I should come and see you and just happened to _overhear_ you talking," Albus replied quietly, giving his aunt a look that said, 'Does that do it?'.

"Don't you have classes?" asked Hermione quickly, as if she was interrogating Albus. Eavesdropping, she didn't like. Her own nephew skipping classes was worse than being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange according to her.

"We have a free period," Albus replied shortly.

"Where's Rose?" interrogated Hermione. She added quickly, "And Scorpius, or any other friends you have."

"Scorpius is early to the classroom and when I last saw her, Rose was with her friends. Dorm mates actually I think. They must be walking to Transfiguration right now. I should go too. I don't know where it is and I need to be in time for Emma Macmillan, the prefect, to lead the first years to their lessons," Albus rambled. He then turned so fast, he could've Apparated if he was thinking where to go and had his wand in his hand.

Unfortunately for him, Hermione caught his arm roughly. "Albus, you don't have to go now, one of us can escort you there right?"

Albus knew in how much trouble he was in. His aunt could get _really_ strict.

"Albus Severus Potter! You **_mustn't_** reveal this to _anyone_! In other words, you can't breathe a word of it to anybody! Not even any of your cousins, okay? This is **_TOP SECRET!_** Top secret…" Hermione paused for a moment to think about how to word her sentence, and then said, "Top secret certain Auror stuff!"

Albus nodded, but wasn't planning on obeying his Aunt Hermione. He had to tell Scorpius and Rose. Only then would Scorpius stop accusing Merope for no real reason. Aunt Hermione couldn't know that though. "I won't."

"Okay good. Hey Ron, could you take Albus to the Transfiguration classroom? I've got some work to do," Hermione said curtly. Albus knew she still had her doubts that Albus would tell, but probably just thought he would tell Rose.

Ron walked over and led Albus out.

"Well mate. You know, I know, we all know Rose is your best friend. So you can tell Rose. We were always hearing things we shouldn't when we were kids. And we told each other all the time."

"What about Scorpius?" asked Albus eagerly, but immediately regretted it with all his heart.

Ron's eyes changed into something Albus couldn't exactly describe. It looked as a mixture of a tiny, tiny bit of fear, some anger, and confusion, along with some remembrance. "Scorpius?! Albus, as your uncle, I don't exactly rejoice the idea that you're friends with a Malfoy. I know I told Rose fine, but I never imagined it would happen! I was just kidding! I don't find this safe." Albus nodded on the outside. But on the inside, he was shaking his head. He was going to tell Rose **_and_** Scorpius. Whether he had permission or not.

"Oh here we are. Hello Professor Martin!" said Ron cheerfully as he walked Albus into the classroom.

"Oh, please, call me Holly, or 'Ms. Martin'. You see, I'm from America, and there, the teachers are called 'Mr.' or 'Mrs.' or 'Ms.', same goes for you, class," said the Transfiguration teacher, a quite pretty woman with chocolate brown hair and hazel eyes. She went on, "We were just taking attendance."

"Okay well, I'll go now," Ron said awkwardly before walking out.

"Anyway, today we will be doing a simple Transfiguration spell. Match to Needle and the other way around. Very few will accomplish it in this lesson, so you will have it to practice for homework. First though, we have to take a few notes." Albus groaned along with a bunch of other of his classmates.


	9. Chapter 9: Albus Tells

Sorry this one is kind of short :(

Chapter 9: Albus Tells

"Scorpius, now do you believe Merope is **_not_** Voldemort's evil daughter?" asked Rose, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes I do. I'm so, so, so sorry Rose! You too Albus," Scorpius replied regrettably.

It was a little past ten o' clock and Scorpius, Rose, and Albus were the only ones left in the common room. It _was_ a school night after all and you can't concentrate on your magic in class if you're too sleepy!

Albus had made them stay late to ensure that he wasn't heard by someone that shouldn't know.

"Well what are we going to do? We can't just let the Wizarding World perish from this Barty Crouch maniac!" Scorpius exclaimed.

"It's okay Scorpius, our parents are top Aurors! They'll punk this idiot!" laughed Rose.

Albus noticed Scorpius' warm smile on seeing Rose laugh. They were like Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron. They, along with his mum and dad, and the rest of his humongous family, often told the many kids stories about their childhood. His aunt and uncle fought a lot, but deep down inside, always cared for and loved each other.

"Okay, well, I wasn't supposed to tell Scorpius," started Albus, unhappy at himself for breaking up the moment. "Because Uncle Ron thought that, well, Uncle Ron can hold a grudge. But the point is that you CANNOT breathe ANYTHING about this to ANYONE AT ALL! Uncle Ron told me I could tell Rose even though her mom said no. She said it was top "certain Auror" stuff," said Albus all seriously to Rose and Scorpius.

Scorpius looked as if he was going to say something, but held it back.

"Okay, we won't tell anyone Albus. You know we wouldn't anyways," replied Rose with a nod. Scorpius copied her.

"'Kay, well, you can go now, bye! 'Night!" smiled Albus.

Rose stood up and walked up the steps to the girls' dormitory.

Albus suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to ask Rose for her History of Magic homework so Scorpius and he could copy from it.

History of Magic was double torture. Double History of Magic was Quadruple torture. Rose and a few other desperately smart people were the only ones to actually manage to stay awake during the lesson. Their ghost teacher, Professor Binns', voice was so drawling, so boring; it was like his voice was made to drawl and to drawl only!

Rose had told Albus about the homework and Albus told Scorpius. (The both of them were sleeping.) They totally forgot!

"Hey, Rose, wait!" yelled Albus, but Rose was already up there. He bolted up the stairs, but all of a sudden, he hit something and slid straight back down the staircase!

"Ahhhhh!" he yelled. Luckily, Scorpius saw and threw a cushion to break Albus' landing. He fell with a soft thud. Of course, there was probably a spell for that, but that wasn't his highest concern right now.

"Oh, thanks Scorpius! Why the heck would the founders find us not trustworthy? I totally forgot about that!"

"Why'd you need to go up there anyways? The staircase block didn't actually help, did it?" asked Scorpius jokingly.

"I needed the History of Magic homework to copy! You do too you know!" smirked Albus.

"Oh yeah! It's okay, we don't have the torture class tomorrow anyway," sighed Scorpius.

Albus shrugged, and with that, the two walked up to dorm and quietly got to bed, careful not to wake the others.

Albus couldn't get to sleep though. He was thinking about Bartemius Crouch Junior.

He knew his parents told the kids nowhere near _everything_ about their totally abnormal Hogwarts years and when they were on the run. That would just make them irresponsible. Though he thought they would at least mention _something_ about Barty Crouch. And they said Barty Crouch _Junior_. That means there was just a Barty Crouch, or Barty Crouch Senior you could say. But if they didn't mention anything about him, he must be really bad!

They would deal with it though. The Golden Trio has dealt with the most powerful Dark wizard of all time and his unspeakable Dark magic! So it won't be too hard to deal with a Death Eater. Would it?

"Oh, here's Sophie!" exclaimed Scorpius as he ate his bacon. His tawny owl nipped his hand affectionately and dropped his letter at him. (It had taken two days for Scorpius to get his father's reply.)

He opened the envelope and showed the letter to Rose and Albus as he read it:

_Dear Scorpius,_

_ I'm happy to hear that you got into Gryffindor. I am quite surprised though. You are much like your distant relative, Sirius Black._

_ I am also happy to hear that you are friends with Albus Potter and Rose Weasley. We have raised you differently from the rest of the old generations of our families. Our ways have changed. But they will also be a good influence on you._

_ I would like to apologize for the reputation you have. I have stopped those ways along with your grandparents at the end of the Second Wizarding War. But I am afraid to say that the old impression does not die out in the eyes of society. But hey, being a Gryffindor helps right?_

_ Anyway, best wishes from your mum and me. And your grandparents._

_Love, Dad _

Albus scoffed, "Pureblood supremacist?" Draco Malfoy _definitely_ was a pureblood supremacist! Rose seemed to think the same.

"Oh yeah! That definitely reflect the pureblood supremacy in the writer of _that_ letter!" said Rose sarcastically raising her eyebrows.


	10. Chapter 10: Ol' Barty's Christmas Visit

Hey everyone! Yeah, this story isn't exactly super popular yet, but hopefully people will see it, right? Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for those few people who actually went and took the time to read this. !Please review!

Chapter 10: A Christmas Visit from Ol' Barty

Over the months, Albus and Rose got to know Scorpius a bit more. Albus and Scorpius got to know Mack, Gary, and Brody a bit more. Rose got to know Kaitlyn, Marina, and Caroline Mayfield, (Another one of her dorm mates) a bit more. Albus, Scorpius, and Rose got to know Merope a bit more. People got to know other people a bit more. It was a time of getting to know people.

Albus' favorite class was Defense against the Dark Arts; he had a thing for it, just like his dad.

Flying Lessons were a close second though. Albus was perfect for a Chaser. It seemed that the Chaser skills James, Harry's dad had, had regenerated after a generation.

Rose wasn't too enthusiastic about Flying Lessons. Scorpius on the other hand, was a great seeker. "Just like my father," he said.

The threesome got to find out that Merope's family had no idea about their daughter's name. They were from Canada, and knew about Voldemort, but not all the nitty gritty details. Her family had moved to England not long ago. They were very ignorant on Merope and didn't exactly care for her. Merope said that deep inside though, they loved her. Merope also had no idea about her name. That day when she was going to the Headmaster's Office was because she wanted to find out about her name. Why people were shirking away from her and the more brave ones giving her dirty looks. She knew Dumbledore would be able to answer her questions. She still was upset though that a teacher had reacted the same way as the kids did.

The foursome, along with the Aurors, often visited Hagrid's cabin for some tea and rock cakes. They may not necessarily have _liked_ the rock cakes, but what Hagrid didn't know, wouldn't hurt him.

The Aurors stayed at Hogwarts, doing research on Dementors. To find out more about their nature and abilities. They got further, only a little bit though. But that wasn't released to the Wizarding community yet. It would bring out suspicions, questions on why the Aurors were investigating something that barely had anything to do with what they should have been doing.

Time flew by and Christmas was upon Hogwarts. Unlike most of the time, most kids stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas break. The Dark Mark fiasco still hadn't died down and parents thought it was much safer for their kids to stay at Hogwarts where there were top Aurors staying.

Neville still hadn't changed his opinion about Scorpius. He was practically ignoring him. Albus and Rose kept on insisting to talk to Neville, but Scorpius preferred they didn't. He said it would just make matters worse.

Anyone who knew Neville would know that that wouldn't make matters worse. But Scorpius didn't know Neville.

Christmas morning was great! Albus received some muggle candy from Brody, who was half-blood. He got some Wizarding candy from Gary. And some Puking Pastilles from Mack.

That was a Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product. Mack seemed really into the business. Albus made a mental note to recommend him to his uncles George and Ron.

Scorpius gave him a little keychain to put on his schoolbag that said: We're da ones… Wizarding village, New York, New York, America. It had been charmed to look like New York City in America. Scorpius had gone there when he was younger and bought it in hopes that he could give it to a friend that was friends with him despite knowing how racist his family used to be. He had always known that his family used to be very prejudice and had wanted to be very different.

Rose had given Albus and Scorpius a History of Magic textbook. Except it was a magical textbook that she had gotten from Diagon Alley, the line of Wizarding markets in London. Instead of having a drawling voice like Professor Binns, it actually played scenes of what you should be learning about. It was kind of like muggle television, except magical. Scorpius found it interesting; Albus thought it wasn't much.

Merope had given Rose, Scorpius, and Albus each a star that she had made herself. It was charmed to shine whenever it could sense that it's holder wasn't exactly in a 'Yippee!' mood.

She had also given Albus (unbeknownst to the others) a box of chocolates that gave a surge of power for the next five minutes to the eater. They would be able to perform a spell that would need one-hundred times the magical power than what they really had.

The others that hadn't given everyone the same gift had exchanged various gifts.

"Scorpius! I am going to go talk to Neville today! Now! I don't care if you don't want me to! I know he doesn't mean to, but he totally humiliated you! Did you hear what the Stinkin' Slytherins said? 'Oh Professor Longbottom! We think you should know Malfoy told us that none of us hated the fact that the school admits muggle-borns as much as he does! Not that we have anything against them! He even used _the word_!' Come on, those stupid idiots said that! I know Neville didn't believe them, but still! I'm going up there now! Are you coming or not Rose?!" stormed Albus angrily.

Most of the school was at the Christmas feast. Merope, Scorpius, Rose, and Albus were sitting together, along with the rest of the cousins. They didn't need to go home. Some of their family at least was right here at Hogwarts.

"Uh, you can go Albus, I'm not feeling so well," said Rose nervously, clutching her stomach and running off to the bathroom pulling Merope with her.

Scorpius immediately gasped and ran off after Rose. Their friendship had really improved over the months after the big fight.

"Um, she looked like she was going to be sick," said Dominique worriedly.

Albus stood up. "I'll go get Aunt Hermione." He ran off to the staff table.

"Aunt Hermione! Rose and Merope just went off to the bathroom! Rose looked like she was about to throw up!"

Hermione grabbed her beaded bag and jumped up to go help Rose.

Albus watched her leave. She walked out of the Great Hall and into the girls' bathroom.

Hermione gasped. Most of the Great Hall had taken to watching what was going on now. Albus watched as she fell back after a muffled voice was heard. What was going on? Hermione fell down. "Crouch!" was all she managed to say before she started screaming in pain.

Everything suddenly became in slow motion. The Aurors running over to Hermione. The staff jumping up and getting the students away. Rose and Scorpius were in there. Not to mention Merope. Why did he leave her? Why did he leave his friends in there? Why couldn't it have been him instead?

Everything was blank. Albus closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he was in the bathroom. With Merope, and Scorpius, and Rose. They were against the wall. Scorpius had his arm around Rose who was holding Merope's hand. Albus saw it all. It took about a second for them to notice Albus. Merope ran over to him and hugged him. He squeezed her hand tightly and at the same moment, saw Bartemius Crouch Junior.

"Why I remember your parents! Turned yours into a ferret once Malfoy. To make sure he didn't do anything to _your_ big guy, Potter. Had to make sure he was squeaky clean and good as new for my Lord to kill. Your old grandpa Malfoy, oh was he a coward!" cackled Crouch crazily. "And you! Never would've thought that since my master couldn't get your father, I could get you! I will avenge my master!"

"Get away from them NOW!" growled Ron, Harry, and Dean almost at the same moment.

" Oh Merlin. This _is_ quite the reunion. Thomas, is that you? Dunbar? Remember me, your teacher, Mad-Eye Moody. Heard he died straight from the hands of my Lord!" chuckled Crouch, his voice getting more maniacal by every word.

All this time, the kids were there, against the wall as before, watching the scene unfold in front of them.

Suddenly, Neville burst in along with some other staff.

"Oh, wow! Longbottom? My, remember the good old days? I still think of the delight I had of meeting your parents Longbottom! Every time I see you! Ah, how are they?"

Neville was about to charge when Fay stopped him, "He's got the kids!"

Albus suddenly remembered something! Neville's parents were tortured into insanity by a few Death Eaters, Crouch included.

It hit him. Why didn't he think of it earlier? The Knockback Jinx! He had learnt it in Defense against the Dark Arts! Albus carefully pulled out his wand.

Merope, who was squeezing his hand tightly, gave Albus a knowing and scared look. Scorpius and Rose did the same. They nodded as Albus cast the spell.

"Flipendo!" said Albus quickly and confidently. Crouch's wand flew out of his hand as he was thrown into the air about six feet back. It took him about almost a second to figure out that he was just outsmarted by an eleven year old.

That second was more than enough for the Aurors and some staff who immediately shot several hexes and curses at Crouch.

The kids watched Crouch immediately become unconscious from the spells. And again, everything was in slow motion. The world was blank, and Albus closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was back at the staff table in the Great Hall.

He saw his father run out to him and hug him, then pull him to the scene of the small battle that had just occurred.

Albus took in the place that he wasn't exactly sure whether he was just there or not. Ron was carrying Hermione out as fast as he could, probably to the hospital wing. Dean and Fay were tying Crouch up. The staff was scrambling out to send Patronuses to the Ministry. And Merope, Scorpius, and Rose were being led out by some Ministry employees that had already gotten there. It was chaos, kind of.

Harry was holding Albus' hand and taking him back out. "Albus, how did you do it?" asked Harry plainly.

"Do what?" replied Albus, irritated that the first question hadn't been, 'Are you okay?'

"Get to the bathroom and back to the Great Hall in the exact same place. I'm sorry my first question wasn't 'Are you okay?', but this is magic never done before. It's never been heard of. It's not Apparition. It's something far more complicated than that. Albus, you may have just done a new type of magic," Harry said very seriously.

"Well, I-I don't know. I was thinking, regretting that it wasn't me in there instead of Merope, and Rose and Scorpius. Or me with them. I was worried about them. And then, everything was blank, and I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was in the bathroom. And after it was over, the same thing happened and I was transported back to the exact same spot I was standing before. I don't know what happened!" exclaimed Albus, his voice getting more frantic by every word.

Harry nodded, listening to every word his son said. He wouldn't worry him though, Albus knew his dad. Now wasn't the time. He had just done something hugely heroic, and now was not the time to question him about all this.

"Okay, well Albus you don't have to talk about it now. I know exactly how you feel. I've experienced something like this at such a young age. You know, the facing a Dark Wizard who wanted to kill you with your friends. I know. I've faced Voldemort in the back of some guy's head in my first year. It's okay."

Harry chuckled and went on, "And soon we can forget about this and go on, your birthday is next month, so is Rose's, let's focus on planning that now. I will explain to you as much as I can later on, okay?"

Albus nodded and let Harry take him to the hospital wing along with the other three who tentatively followed.

Long enough? :)


	11. Chapter 11: Arguments in the Infirmary

Chapter 11: Argument in the Hospital Wing

"It was the Cruciatius, I know it. I've never experienced it, but I'm telling you, I could tell, seeing her like that. I've heard her screams before, it's the same," said Ron stubbornly.

A few Ministry people, a couple of workers from the Committee on Experimental Charms, the 'Hogwarts Aurors' (not including Hermione) along with some more Aurors, Madam Macdonald, Hermione, Draco and Astoria Malfoy, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, the four kids, and Neville were all crowded in the hospital wing.

Harry had demanded the Ministry stay out of Albus' way for the next few weeks. They agreed, verbally at least. They still refused to not send over some people from the Committee on Experimental Charms and Department of Magical Transportation. So Harry had to be the good dad he was and tell them to back off away from his son.

They couldn't stop the Ministry from questioning the other kids though. They were the first ones to see Crouch. Even the kids knew that it was very important for them to tell the facts. So did the adults. But only after a few days, when the trauma of it went away. They were only eleven-year olds who were the unfortunate ones that walked into the room in which Bartemius Crouch Junior planned to announce his arrival back to the world after twenty-two years.

"Okay, well Crouch is locked up right now. We don't know how it happened, he took the Dementor's Kiss, and died a few months later," said a Ministry employee.

Harry looked like he was trying his hardest not to lose his patience. "Look Zabini, I told you before, we've been doing research on Dementor's abilities and they can, if powerful Dark magic performed on them, do anything. My theory is, that Voldemort did this on the Dementor who took Crouch's soul, and commanded it to return his soul and must have gave him some type of Dark magic to revive the body or create an exact replica of the body and put the soul into it. Come on, nobody knows all of the Dark magic that could be out there. Voldemort must've created half of it. He did this because Crouch is very loyal, thus, very valuable and would do anything to service Voldemort. He could do so many tasks and serve as a very helpful servant."

"But this is physically impossible," replied Zabini quickly.

"Blaise, I've got to agree with Potter. I, now I horribly regret it, knew the Dark Lord well. This is something he would definitely do," said Lucius Malfoy.

A woman from the Ministry quickly said, "Mr. Malfoy, after the First Wizarding War, you claimed that you were under the Imperius Curse and were forced to be a Death Eater. But once You-Know-Who rose again, you went straight back to him of your own free will. After the Second Wizarding War, well actually, during the last battle of the Second Wizarding War, you forfeited and because of this action, were cleared of all charges, even after being thrown into Azkaban. You claim that you forfeited right after finding your son and took your wife and son with you to protect them. You claim that the only reason you were a Death Eater was because you really thought that muggle-borns do steal magic from wizards and thought they were a danger. You claim that after you were thrown in Azkaban, you realized that you shouldn't have ever gotten into this. You claim that you never wanted your son to do such a task as killing someone. You claim that after the Azkaban breakout, you just wanted your family to be safe. You claim that even before the Skirmish at Malfoy Manor when you saw your sister-in-law torture Hermione Weasley," she paused to motion at Hermione who was sitting in one of the beds. "you had wanted to change your ways. You claim that even before You-Know-Who chose your home as headquarters, you wanted to change. But none of us except you know how exactly true this is. You see, you say you are back on the good side now. But you said you were back on the good side before, and that wasn't very true. Therefore, my greatest apologies Mr. Malfoy, I don't exactly find it fit that you express your opinion in this matter."

Lucius Malfoy flinched many times during this big lecture. But he kept cool. Draco Malfoy was the one who lost his temper. Of course, his father was being horribly insulted here.

"Ms. Patil. Uh, which one are you? Parvati? You do seem to know your facts well. Did you research my father's file before you came here?"

If looks could kill, Parvati Patil would've murdered Draco Malfoy by now.

"Actually, I fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, and was in Dumbledore's Army, which if some people don't know, was a Defense group against what was out there. So I thought that I really wanted to keep tabs on what goes on with Death Eaters after the Battle of Hogwarts. I wanted to make sure they were imprisoned, and suffered for their horrible deeds. And your father, well, what really bugs me is that he lied that he was on the good side once. But when the time came, he showed he never was. And I absolutely _hate_ that." She narrowed her eyes and raised her eyebrows and did everything she could to look like a smart-aleck.

Draco Malfoy had his wand out by now, but put it back when Scorpius gave him a kick, which everyone in the room noticed.

Scorpius looked horribly hurt that his dad stooped so low. It made _him_ look so low.

"Parvati, Malfoy, drop it," said Hermione sternly through gritted teeth from her bed. It was astonishing how when she was so weak, she could make her voice sound so threatening.

Draco Malfoy and Parvati shirked back in fear.

"Anyway, I'm telling you guys, we need to make this public," said Fay.

"First, you need to tell the Minister," said Zabini raising his eyebrows.

"I told Kingsley already," replied Harry, looking happy he could show Zabini who was boss.

Zabini gave a fake smile to Harry, and then said, "Okay, what about the Daily Prophet?"

This time, Dean fake-smiled to Zabini and replied, "I'm afraid the Minister will be the one to decide that Mr. Zabini."

Zabini looked like he couldn't keep cool anymore. "Huh? It's quite interesting actually. You see, the Minister is Kingsley Shacklebolt, member of that Order you had, huh? You've known him from your fifth year, I'm pretty sure he'll listen to whatever you say. Not what we say, just because of prejudice."

Harry's eyes shot daggers at Zabini, who was repeatedly smirking. Harry found a way to retaliate though. "Oh really Zabini? But I recall you saying something, and I quote directly from you when you were in your sixth year at Hogwarts, 'I wouldn't touch a filthy blood traitor like her whatever she looked like!' You were referring to my wife, a Gryffindor. Which for the record, is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"Look here Potter. I was sixteen; I didn't know what I was talking about."

"You knew very well what you were talking about and you know that!"

"Potter! Again, I was a Slytherin. And most Slytherins that young think like that. Mainly because they were brought up like that since the rest of their family thought like that. Or they were just influenced by being around those kinds of people. But everyone changes as they get older. They get rid of silly beliefs that they had when they were younger. They may still hold a slight grudge from their childhood and teenage years, and they may still have that attitude, but most people will get rid of the horrible beliefs they had when they were younger. If they did have horrible beliefs at least. But you Gryffindors don't think we can change at all do you? You just have an impression of us being all, 'Ugh! I can't be seen associating with that filthy blood! Or those idiot muggle lovers!' But do you take the time to see if we really have changed inside? Oh wait Potter, I can answer that, no!"

Everyone in the room looked at Zabini, stunned. It took him a few moments to realize that he had just let out his strongest feeling to a few of that same huge group of people it was about.

"Blaise," said Hermione softly. _Aunt Hermione is a total softy to this kind of stuff_ thought Albus.

"I just realized how true your words are. I'm sorry. I'm sorry from all those Gryffindors that did or do that. We do represent each other. How about we start clean? I mean, in your speech, you did mention that you may have kept that grudge. Maybe you should let go of it and see how much better Gryffindors treat you?" asked Hermione thoughtfully.

Zabini nodded in response.

Harry and Ron turned to the kids and motioned for them to come out of the hospital wing with them. Albus walked out first, with Rose and Merope behind him, and Scorpius behind them.

"Okay, well, there are some facts needed to know. Rose, Scorpius, Merope, and Albus, it is the procedure that you are questioned about the whole incident. I'm sorry; all we've gotten for you to rest is four days. After that, you must be capable of answering all of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's questions that you know the answers to at least," said Ron understandably. He then looked at Harry, motioning for him to say what he needed to.

"Albus, Uncle Ron and I tried so hard to get you time in between, but they refused. They're going to question you privately right after they question all four of you together. I know, we tried so hard, but they still didn't listen. You see, your Aunt Hermione is basically my boss. But she doesn't make the decisions just because she's the Head of the department. It's the members of it that decide it. But she sadly couldn't do anything about it from her bed. She might be able to veto the decision if she gets better in time, but they can still overrule it. It's a big system. But my point is, we're all really sorry Albus, but you'll have to do both questionings right after another. And I can't be in there. But hey, your birthday is coming up really soon!" explained Harry, cheering up loads when he got to the birthday part.

Albus nodded sadly. So did the others. _It's going to be a long 'Annual Time between Christmas and My Birthday'_ thought Albus.

"Oh and about the answers and all, we'll tell you all about it tomorrow, okay?" said Ron.


	12. Chapter 12: The Journey to Answers

Do you like it? I wrote it all when I was 9 or 10 I think, but now I'm going over it and revising it…

Chapter 12: The Journey to Answers

That night, Albus got almost no sleep. He kept waking up from nightmares. He was sure Merope, Rose, and Scorpius were experiencing the same thing. Albus' nightmares had the same scene playing over and over again. Crouch was cursing his friends with that same Dark curse he used on Aunt Hermione. And Albus couldn't do anything about it because he was being transported from the Great Hall and the bathroom repeatedly by his new method of magical transportation. Every time he got so close to help his friends, he was transported right back to the Great Hall. Every time he ran to the bathroom from the Great Hall, he got transported into the bathroom and the same process went on.

He at least had something to look forward to the next day: answers! He needed to know what was going on! Yes, he overheard something, but it wasn't that much! He wanted to know the life story of Mr. Bartemius Crouch Junior. And it wouldn't hurt to find out a few facts about Senior! Was he a Death Eater too? How did he die? Did he support his son in his Death Eater-ly goals? Or was he some good guy in the story? Who knows? It seemed like everyone did but him!

So Albus just toughened it up and hoped morning would come soon and open the gates so he could get out of the Land of Nightmares, which by the way, was as far away as possible from the Land of Dreams. At least in Albus' head it was.

Albus yawned, wanting to sleep, but without nightmares. Hey! He could ask Madam Macdonald for a Potion for Dreamless Sleep. _Well, I want answers more than sleep, and it is morning anyway, why else would the sun be out there to wake me up, _he thought shrugging as he pulled off his comforter slowly.

He saw that Scorpius was still sleeping. He didn't want to wake him up, he looked so peaceful. But of course, he _had_ to be having a nightmare. So Albus decided to wake him up.

He crept over to Scorpius before realizing today was a weekday and the other boys were already out of bed at lessons. Albus looked at the time: ten sixteen. The boys must have been told not to wake Scorpius and him up.

Albus tapped on Scorpius' shoulder and faintly muttered, "Scorpius?"

Nothing happened. He tried again, "Scorpius." This time he said it loudly and clearly and goaded Scorpius' shoulder a bit harder.

"Rose," mumbled Scorpius. Albus assumed it was a nightmare. Scorpius obviously fancied Rose, she was the one that would've been hurt the most in his nightmare.

"Scorpius!" Albus said, now shaking Scorpius, desperate to help Scorpius get rid of the misery in his dreams.

"NO!" yelled Scorpius as his head shot up after the final shakes. "Oh," he murmured after seeing Albus.

"Nightmares too?" asked Albus sadly.

"You too?"

Albus nodded in response.

"Well, let's get up and ready. Judging that everyone else is gone, and we've been sleeping this long, gives me the idea that we don't have to go to classes," joked Scorpius, trying to cheer up the solemn aura in the room.

"Yeah, we'll just go to the tent. Wait, what about Rose and Merope?" asked Albus. "We can't go up there."

"Hey, maybe if we explain to the shield the circumstances, it'll let us in," suggested Scorpius.

"Um, that works with portraits and gargoyles or any of the guards to get into a certain room at Hogwarts. Not with the shield," explained Albus.

"Oh. They'll wake up when they want, I guess."

"Yeah," replied Albus awkwardly nodding with his hand behind his back. "So, let's get ready. You can have the bathroom first."

"Oh, okay." Scorpius opened up the drawers of his miniature dresser to pull out some clothes. He didn't bother getting his Hogwarts robes out though.

He went over to the bathroom to freshen up and get ready while Albus pulled out his clothes so he could go right in when Scorpius came out.

After about five minutes, Scorpius came out and Albus went in. Then after about five minutes, Albus came out and the two walked out of the dormitory quietly.

They walked out of the portrait where they encountered the Fat Lady.

"Oh boys, I heard what happened, I'm so sorry! If you need any help, come to me, I know! I'll sing to cheer you up!" The portraits around groaned. Scorpius and Albus thought to just walk into the tent two feet away from them, but the Fat Lady started her torturous screeching already. Why, oh why were they so caring about a portrait's feelings?

She went on with her high, shrill voice which was _much _shriller than Walburga Black's portrait in Grimmauld Place. That's where Albus' whole family went every summer for a few weeks.

Since she was so preoccupied with her singing, the boys took their chance to sneak into the tent to see Ron and Dean covering their ears.

"Which one of you set her off?" joked Dean bending down and covering his ears more tightly.

"Neither one of us. She just said she heard about what happened and thought that singing for us would cheer us up!" shouted Albus over the screeching.

"Typical Fat Lady," scoffed Ron. Dean nodded in agreement.

The Fat Lady finally stopped singing when she realized that the boys were gone. "Oh, I must have cheered them up already so they went on. Of course, they didn't tell me because they didn't want to interrupt my beautiful singing."

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness," said Dean in a sing-song voice.

Everyone laughed.

Ron cleared his throat amusingly and said, "Well, your father is in the Headmaster's office, along with Fay. A few Ministry employees demanded that they talk about all this at the Ministry of Magic, but Harry downright refused. And Kingsley told them that all this should happen at the choice location of the kids, or Aurors, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

Kingsley, Kingsley Shacklebolt specifically, was the Minister of Magic. He was also a very close family friend of the Potters and Weasleys. What Zabini said was partly true. Kingsley Shacklebolt was part of the Order of the Phoenix.

The order of the Phoenix was the secret organization that Dumbledore had formed when the First Wizarding War started to fight against the Dark forces, also known as Voldemort and his Dark forces.

Albus' paternal grandparents had been members of the original Order before they were killed by Voldemort. His maternal grandparents had been part of the second Order.

His parents had never actually gotten the chance to be in it when Voldemort returned. But they got to when the remaining Death Eaters were running amok.

Anyway, Albus didn't brag about very personally knowing the Minister of Magic. He was very modest about it. He was modest about everything special about his family and him. Just like Harry.

"And, you'll get the answers to your questions after the meeting, no need to worry," said Ron firmly.

"Hey, where are the girls?" asked Dean.

Albus responded, "They didn't come here yet? Then they must still be sleeping."

"Why di—ohhhhh, we're not to be trusted," said Ron, realizing the answer to his question before he asked it.

"Yep," said Scorpius, nodding.

"We can get Fay to go in there or something," said Ron.

"Or one of her dorm mates," suggested Dean.

Right then, there was some giggling and whispering form outside the tent. Scorpius opened the flap to see Kaitlyn, Caroline, and Marina just walking into the common room.

"Hey, Caroline!" exclaimed Scorpius.

She turned around. "Yeah?"

"Can you wake up Rose and Merope?"

"Sure. But what happened in there yesterday?"

"Just wake them up please."

"Okay." Caroline turned back and walked up the stairs along with her friends, probably to get something during their free period.

"Nosy much?" said Scorpius stiffly. He had never liked nosy people.

Albus raised his eyebrows. "She was just curious. Who wouldn't be?"

"Me," Scorpius smirked.

"Oh really? Come on; think about if something happened in a bathroom and all you knew about it is that there was some Dark wizard that apparently was a surprise to the Aurors included. And of course some kids," responded Albus smartly.

Scorpius just huffed and turned the other way, not wanting to admit that he himself could ever be nosy.

He was saved, because Harry and Fay came walking in looking quite grumpy. Albus understood why as soon as he saw some Ministry people come in behind them.

"Oh, you guys are awake, good. Where are Rose and Merope?" asked Harry, pretending like the Ministry workers weren't behind them.

"We asked Caroline if she could wake them up. Since we aren't trusted," replied Albus stiffly. Ever since he fell, Albus always tried to make a big deal about the fact that boys weren't allowed in the girls' dormitories. He thought it was ridiculous.

Harry nodded understandably while Fay smirked. She wasn't one of those close family friends. But she was a pretty good friend to her fellow workers. Did she go to Hogwarts with them? Albus thought she did.

The girls must have already been getting ready when Caroline 'woke them up' because just then, they walked through the door.

"Oh, well, I had no idea there was a party in here, did you Merope?" joked Rose humorously. Rose was like that, starting the day with something to laugh about after last night's incident.

"No, I had no idea! Why weren't we invited?" replied Merope, playing along with the joke, but barely stifling her snigger.

_I love that smile_ thought Albus dreamily. Until he realized what he was thinking. _Um, awkward moment for me and my mind._

"Oh, you girls are here too. Well, let me just escort these wonderful gentlemen out," started Fay, turning around to give a fake smile to the Ministry employees. "Then your dad and uncle can take you kids to the Headmaster's office. I hear you have an 'answer session' planned," winked Fay.

"Yes we do. Thank you so much Fay," winked Harry back.

She smirked and turned, then sarcastically drew out her hand to the Ministry workers and walked out, giving them another one of her 'perfect' fake smiles before rolling her eyes just so they could see her.

Harry clapped his hands together low in front of him before saying, "Okay, well, come on kids. You definitely deserve some answers."


	13. Chapter 13: The Pensieve: Karkaroff

I haven't done this in a while so…

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING. THIS IS ALL THE AMAZING WORK OF J.K. ROWLING!

Chapter 13: The Pensieve: Karkaroff's Trial

"So who _exactly _is this Barty Crouch Junior guy?" asked Albus as soon as they had walked into the Headmaster's office.

"Wait, get settled a bit first. Dean and Fay should be coming anytime now. Now let me tell you, it's not easy planning an answer session. Do you know how hard it was to convince them to let us have a break?" started Harry.

"At least until Kingsley stepped in. Then things got better. It does help a lot having a fair Minister of Magic," he finished.

"So, let's get started now. Too bad Hermione's still stuck in the hospital wing. Well, you know about Mad-Eye Moody right? Alastor Moody. We told you a bit about him. Of course we couldn't say anything about Crouch Junior locking him up in his own magical trunk for nine months in our 4th year though. That would totally say something about him," explained Ron sarcastically.

"Oh no, this is just the beginning. Think about it, when we told you about the Triwizard Tournament, weren't there always some things that made no sense? Like there were some blanks. Like we weren't telling you something? Like something was missing from it? Here it is," continued Harry.

"Bartemius Crouch Junior was the son of Bartemius Crouch Senior, who before his son was imprisoned in Azkaban, was Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, most likely to become Minister. But after his son was put in Azkaban, he lost his extremely high status. Not that he didn't have a high status anymore, but he wasn't good enough for Minister of Magic and went down to Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation," explained Neville, who none of the kids noticed before, standing in a corner.

"Maybe this will help," smiled Dumbledore's portrait.

Harry got up from his seat and slid open a mysterious-looking door that opened to a huge cauldron-like container. Inside the tiny room, there was a cabinet which Harry opened. Inside the cabinet were countless vials that had writing on them in tiny little cursive. Harry spun through them before stopping and reaching in his hand to pick up one of the vials. He pulled out the cauldron-thingy and put it on the desk before explaining what exactly they were supposed to do.

"Well, come on. Just put your head into the Pensieve," said Harry nonchalantly.

The kids looked at him like he was crazy. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what now?" asked Rose.

"Just put your head in Rosie. I didn't think my directions were so complicated," explained Harry with a grin on his face. Albus didn't know what it was, but his father was definitely enjoying this.

"Okaaaayyy," said Albus suspiciously. The four got in a line and Albus (who was first) walked over to the Pensieve and put his head into it nervously.

Immediately, he felt like he was being pulled down into a hole. Suddenly, he found himself watching a court trial. There were two Dementors guarding the doors. Albus oddly wasn't affected at all by them. There was a jury too; Dumbledore was there, along with many others too. And there were a few people at the main table. The judge had a mustache and small beard and looked very strict. Not a judge that any normal person would want to have trial them. Nothing was moving though. It was a still image.

Then, he saw Rose appear next to him, then Merope, then Scorpius, then Harry, then Neville. They watched as the court scene started.

"Igor Karkaroff," the judge said in a curt voice. "You have been brought from Azkaban to present evidence to the Ministry of Magic. You have given us to understand that you have important information for us.

The man being trialed, Igor Karkaroff, straightened himself as best he could, tightly bound to the chair.

"I have, sir," he said, and although his voice was very scared, Albus could still hear a note of flattery in it. I wish to be of use to the Ministry. I wish to help. I—I know that the Ministry is trying to—to round up the last of the Dark Lord's supporters. I am eager to assist in any way I can... "

There was a murmur around the benches. Some of the wizards and witches were surveying Karkaroff with interest, others with pronounced mistrust. Then Albus heard, quite distinctly, from Dumbledore's other side, a growling voice saying, "Filth."

Albus leaned forward along with the others to see Mad-Eye Moody.

"Crouch is going to let him out," Moody breathed quietly to Dumbledore. "He's done a deal with them. Took me six months to track him down, and Crouch is going to let him go if he's got enough new names. Let's hear his information, I say, then throw him back to the dementors.

"The judge is Crouch Senior!" whispered Albus to his friends excitedly.

Dumbledore made a small noise of dissent through his long crooked nose.

"Ah, I was forgetting... you don't like the dementors, do you Albus?" said Moody with a sardonic smile.

"No," said Dumbledore calmly, "I'm afraid I don't. I have long felt the Ministry is wrong to ally itself with such creatures."

"But for filth like this," Moody said softly.

"You say you have names for us, Karkaroff," said Mr. Crouch. "Let us hear them please."

"You must understand," said Karkaroff hurriedly, "that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named operated always in the greatest secrecy. ... He preferred that we—I mean to say his supporters—and I regret now, very deeply, that I ever counted myself among them—"

"Get on with it," sneered Moody.

"—we never knew the names of every one of our fellows—He alone knew exactly who we all were—"

"Which was a wise move, wasn't it, as it prevented someone like you, Karkaroff, from turning all of them in," muttered Moody.

"Yet you say you have _some_ names for us?" said Mr. Crouch.

"I—I do," said Karkaroff breathlessly. "And these were important supporters, mark you. People I saw with my own eyes doing his bidding. I give this information as a sign that I fully and totally renounce him, and am filled with a remorse so deep I can barely—"

"These names are?" said Mr. Crouch sharply.

"There was Antonin Dolohov," he said. "I—I saw him torture countless Muggles and—and non-supporters of the Dark Lord."

"And helped him do it," murmured Moody.

"We have already apprehended Dolohov," said Crouch. "He was caught shortly after yourself."

"Indeed?" said Karkaroff, his eyes widening. "I—I am delighted to hear it!"

But he didn't look it. Albus could tell that this news had come as a real blow to him. One of his names was worthless.

"Any others?" said Crouch coldly.

"Why, yes... there was Rosier," said Karkaroff hurriedly. "Evan Rosier."

"Rosier is dead," said Crouch. "He was caught shortly after you were too. He preferred to fight rather than come quietly and was killed in the struggle."

"Took a bit of me with him, though," whispered Moody to Dumbledore, indicating to a large chunk out of his nose.

"No—no more than Rosier deserved!" said Karkaroff, a real note of panic in his voice now. Albus could see that he was starting to worry that none of his information would be of any use to the Ministry. Karkaroff's eyes darted toward the door in the corner, behind which the dementors undoubtedly still stood, waiting.

"Any more?" said Crouch.

"Yes!" said Karkaroff. "There was Travers—he helped murder the McKinnons! Mulciber—he specialized in the Imperius Curse, forced countless people to do horrific things! Rookwood, who was a spy, and passed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named useful information from inside the Ministry itself!"

Albus could tell that, this time, Karkaroff had struck gold. The watching crowd was murmuring together.

"Rookwood?" said Mr. Crouch, nodding to a witch sitting in front of him, who began scribbling upon her piece of parchment. "Augustus Rookwood of the Department of Mysteries?"

"The very same," said Karkaroff eagerly. "I believe he used a network of well-placed wizards, both inside the Ministry and out, to collect information—"

"But Travers and Mulciber we have," said Mr. Crouch. "Very well, Karkaroff, if that is all, you will be returned to Azkaban while we decide—"

"Not yet!" cried Karkaroff, looking quite desperate. "Wait! I have more!"

Albus could see him sweating in the torchlight, his white skin contrasting strongly with the black of his hair and beard.

"Snape!" he shouted. "Severus Snape!"

"Snape has been cleared by this council," said Crouch disdainfully. "He has been vouched for by Albus Dumbledore."

"No!" shouted Karkaroff, straining at the chains that bound him to the chair. "I assure you! Severus Snape is a Death Eater!"

Dumbledore had gotten to his feet.

"I have given evidence on this matter," he said calmly. "Severus Snape was a Death Eater. However, he rejoined our side before Lord Voldemort's downfall and turned spy for us, at great personal risk. He is now no more a Death Eater than I am."

Albus turned to look at Mad-Eye Moody. He was wearing a look of deep skepticism behind Dumbledore's back.

"Very well Karkaroff," Crouch said coldly, "you have been of assistance. I shall review your case. You will return to Azkaban in the meantime… "

Mr. Crouch's voice faded as everything started fading before swirling in total darkness.

Albus found his companions disappearing before feeling himself being taken back to the office. He closed his eyes to avoid getting anything in them, even though he thought that was just his imagination.

"That wasn't much important to Crouch Junior, but I wanted you to know more about Karkaroff's situation. As you can obviously see, Crouch Senior wasn't a big fan of Karkaroff; he absolutely had no tolerance for Dark wizards, including Death Eaters. But Crouch Junior hated Karkaroff, possibly more than his father. He claims that there's nothing he hates more than Death Eaters that walked free. That also would include Karkaroff, who didn't just walk free, but ratted out his fellows," explained Harry.

"There is a memory that will give you everything, but that will come after this one," added Ron.

Before that could happen though, Dean and Fay walked in along with Hermione.

"Aunt Hermione!" cried Albus as Rose cried, "Mum!"

Hermione smiled warmly and walked over before hugging them, who gladly obliged.

Harry then picked out another glass vial before tipping the substance into the Pensieve.

Harry spoke, "Now, let's see Crouch Junior's trial along with Bellatrix, Rabastan, and Rodolphus Lestrange."

Hope you liked this one! Please review!


	14. Chapter 14: The Torturers' Trial

In the last chapter and this, there have been some scenes from the book. They may be in future chapters too. So… I DON'T OWN ANYONE EXCEPT MY OCs! ALL HAIL THE GREAT J.K. ROWLING!

Chapter 14: The Pensieve: Alice and Frank's Torturers' Trial

As Albus watched the scene in front of his materialize, he saw that he was in the same dungeons as before.

Mr. Crouch was the judge again, but beside him was a frail, tearful-looking woman. Albus could tell she was filled with extreme grief. Her hands were trembling and her eyes were red.

The door in the corner opened, and six dementors entered this time, flanking a group of four people. Harry saw the people in the crowd turn to look up at Mr. Crouch. A few of them whispered to one another.

The dementors placed each of the four people in the four chairs with chained arms that now stood on the dungeon floor. There was a thickset man who stared blankly up at Crouch Sr.; a thinner and more nervous-looking man, whose eyes were darting around the crowd; a woman with thick, shining dark hair and heavily hooded eyes, who was sitting in the chained chair as though it were a throne; and a boy in his late teens, who looked nothing short of petrified. He was shivering, his straw-colored hair all over his face, his freckled skin milk white.

Albus immediately recognized him as Crouch Jr.! He looked so, so innocent! He made anyone think, how he could ever be a _Death Eater_!

The wispy little witch beside Crouch Sr. began to rock backward and forward in her seat, whimpering into her handkerchief.

Crouch Sr. stood up. He looked down upon the four in front of him, and there was pure hatred in his face.

"You have been brought here before the Council of Magical Law," he said clearly, "so that we may pass judgment on you, for a crime so heinous—"

"Father," said Crouch Jr. "Father...please..."

"—that we have rarely heard the like of it within this court," said Mr. Crouch, speaking more loudly, drowning out his son's voice.

"We have heard the evidence against you. The four of you stand accused of capturing an Auror—Frank Longbottom—and subjecting him to the Cruciatius Curse, believing him to have knowledge of the present whereabouts of your exiled master, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named—"

"Father, I didn't!" shrieked Crouch Jr. in chains below. "I didn't, I swear it, Father, don't send me back to the dementors—"

"You are further accused," bellowed Mr. Crouch, "of using the Cruciatius Curse on Frank Longbottom's wife, when he would not give you information. You planned to restore He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to power, and to resume the lives of violence you presumably led while he was strong. I now ask the jury—"

"Mother!" screamed Crouch, and the wispy little witch (who Albus had figured was Mrs. Crouch) beside Mr. Crouch began to sob, rocking backward and forward. "Mother, stop him, Mother, I didn't do it, it wasn't me!"

"I now ask the jury," shouted Mr. Crouch, "to raise their hands if they believe, as I do, that these crimes deserve a life sentence in Azkaban!"

In unison, the witches and wizards along the right-hand side of the dungeon raised their hands. The crowd around the wall began to clap as it had for Bagman, their faces full of savage triumph. The boy began to scream.

"No! Mother, no! I didn't do it, I didn't do it, I didn't know! Don't send me there, don't let him!"

The dementors were gliding back into the room. The Lestranges rose quietly from their seats; Bellatrix Lestrange looked up at Mr. Crouch and called, "The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban, we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us, he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!"

But Crouch was trying to fight off the dementors, even though Albus could see they were having an effect on him.

He himself had never felt the feeling of a dementor, they were banned from England. But he heard a very detailed description from his family, in case 'a situation was to arise'.

The crowd was jeering, some of them on their feet, as the woman swept out of the dungeon, and Crouch continued to struggle.

"I'm your son!" he screamed up at Mr. Crouch. "I'm your son!"

"You are no son of mine!" bellowed Mr. Crouch, his eyes bulging suddenly. "I have no son!"

Mrs. Crouch gave a great gasp and slumped in her seat. She had fainted. Mr. Crouch appeared not to have noticed.

"Take them away!" he roared at the dementors, spit flying from his mouth. "Take them away, and may they rot there!"

"Father! Father, I wasn't involved! No! No! Father, please!"

The voice was drowned out as that same feeling of getting out of the Pensieve was felt and Albus' feet hit the ground of the Headmaster's office.

"Well, that was Barty Crouch Jr.'s trial," said Harry.

"I don't exactly understand something," said Scorpius tentatively.

"Yes?" asked Hermione sweetly.

"How and when did he get the Dementor's Kiss? He was imprisoned only," asked Scorpius.

The other three kids murmured in agreement.

"You'll find that out in this next memory," said Dumbledore's portrait warmly.

Scorpius nodded along with the others.

"Well, first you should know that this memory is my memory, and it's when I got back from Little Hangleton graveyard. It finishes after Barty Crouch Jr. is confronted with the Truth Potion and forced to tell everything, and morphed back into who he really is, not Alastor Moody," said Harry before pulling out his wand and touching it to the side of his head, then pulling it away, also taking a silvery hair-like wisp with it and dipping it into the Pensieve with his wand.

"Well, you guys should know the procedure now, go ahead," smiled Ron.

This time, Rose went in first, followed by Merope. Albus was about to go when he heard something from behind him.

"Scorpius, look, I'm really sorry I judged you. I saw that letter you got from your dad a few months ago today on the floor of the Great Hall, it must've slipped from your bag yesterday. Apology accepted?" said Neville warmly to Scorpius. He nodded eagerly.

_Mission Accomplished_ thought Albus happily. He had been the one to put the letter on the floor when they had gone to the bathroom so Neville would see it.

With a sense of accomplishment in the air and in Albus, he dipped his head into the Pensieve and awaited the familiar sensation.


	15. Chapter 15: Harry: Secrets Revealed

Here's a really long one :) It's mainly from Goblet of Fire, but it's from Albus' point of view. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING.

Chapter 15: The Pensieve: Secrets Revealed

Albus watched his father live the aftermath of one of the most intense moments of his life.

Harry slam flat into the ground; his face was pressed into grass; the smell of it filled his nostrils. He had closed his eyes while the Portkey transported him, and he kept them closed now. He did not move. All the breath seemed to have been knocked out of him; his head was swimming so badly he felt as though the ground beneath him were swaying like the deck of a ship. To hold himself steady, he tightened his hold on the two things he was still clutching: the smooth, cold handle of the Triwizard Cup and Cedric's body. He felt as though he would slide away into the blackness gathering at the edges of his brain if he let go of either of them. Shock and exhaustion kept him on the ground, breathing in the smell of the grass, waiting...waiting for someone to do something...something to happen... and all the while, his scar burned dully on his forehead...

A torrent of sound deafened and confused him; there were voices everywhere, footsteps, screams... He remained where he was, his face screwed up against the noise, as though it were a nightmare that would pass...

Then a pair of hands seized him roughly and turned him over.

"Harry! _Harry!_"

He opened his eyes.

He was looking up at the starry sky, and Albus Dumbledore was crouched over him. The dark shadows of a crowd of people pressed in around them, pushing nearer; Harry felt the ground beneath his head reverberating with their footsteps.

He had come back to the edge of the maze. He could see the stands rising above him, the shapes of people moving in them, the stars above.

Harry let go of the cup, but he clutched Cedric to him even more tightly. He raised his free hand and seized Dumbledore's wrist, while Dumbledore's face swam in and out of focus.

"He's back," Harry whispered. "He's back. Voldemort."

"What's going on? What's happened?"

The face of Cornelius Fudge appeared upside down over Harry; it looked white, appalled.

"My God—Diggory!" it whispered. "Dumbledore—he's dead!"

The words were repeated, the shadowy figures pressing in on them gasped it to those around them...and then others shouted it—screeched it—into the night— "He's dead!" "He's _dead_!" "Cedric Diggory! _Dead_!"

"Harry, let go of him," he heard Fudge's voice saw, and he felt fingers trying to pry him form Cedric's limp body, but Harry wouldn't let him go. Then Dumbledore's face, which was still blurred and misted, came closer.

"Harry, you can't help him now. It's over. Let go."

"He wanted me to bring him back," Harry muttered—it seemed important to explain this. "He wanted me to bring him back to his parents..."

"That's right, Harry... just let go now..."

Dumbledore bent down, and with extraordinary strength for a man so old and thin, raised Harry from the ground and set him on his feet. Harry swayed. His head was pounding. His injured leg would no longer support his weight. The crowd around them jostled, fighting to get closer, pressing darkly in on him— "What's happened?" "What's wrong with him?" "_Diggory's dead!_"

"He'll need to go to the hospital wing!" Fudge was saying loudly. "He's ill, he's injured— Dumbledore, Diggory's parents, they're here, they're in the stands..."

"I'll take Harry, Dumbledore, I'll take him—"

"No, I would prefer—"

"Dumbledore, Amos Diggory's running...he's coming over... Don't you think you should tell him— before he sees—?"

"Harry, stay here—"

Girls were screaming, sobbing hysterically... The scene flickered oddly before Harry's eyes...

"It's all right, son, I've got you... come on...hospital wing..."

"Dumbledore said stay," said Harry thickly, the pounding in his scar making him feel as though he was about to throw up; his vision was blurring worse than ever.

"You need to lie down... Come on now..."

Someone larger and stronger than he was was half pulling, half carrying him through the frightened crowd. Harry heard people gasping, screaming, and shouting as the man supporting him pushed a path through them, taking him back to the castle. Across the lawn, past the lake and the Durmstrang ship, Harry heard nothing but the heavy breathing of the man helping him walk.

"What happened Harry?" the man asked at last as he lifted Harry up the stone steps. _Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. _ It was Mad-Eye Moody.

"Cup was a Portkey," said Harry as they crossed the entrance hall. "Took me and Cedric to a graveyard... and Voldemort was there... Lord Voldemort..."

_Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. _Up the marble stairs...

"The Dark Lord was there? What happened then?"

"Killed Cedric... they killed Cedric..."

"And then?"

_Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. _Along the corrider...

"Made a potion...got his body back..."

"The Dark Lord got his body back? He's returned?"

"And the Death Eaters came...and then we dueled..."

"You dueled with the Dark Lord?"

"Got away... my wand... did something funny... I saw my mum and dad... they came out of his wand..."

"In here, Harry... in here, and sit down... You'll be all right now... drink this..."

Harry heard a key scrape in a lock and felt a cup being pushed into his hands.

"Drink it... you'll feel better... come on, now, Harry, I need to know exactly what happened..."

"Moody helped tip the stuff down Harry's throat; he coughed, a peppery taste burning his throat. Moody's office came into sharper focus and so did Moody himself... He looked as white as Fudge had looked, and both eyes were fixed unblinkingly upon Harry's face.

"Voldemort's back, Harry? You're sure he's back? How did he do it?"

"He took stuff from his father's grave, and from Wormtail, and me," said Harry. His head felt clearer; his scar wasn't hurting as badly; he could now see Moody's face distinctly, even though the office was dark. He could still hear screaming and shouting from the distant Quidditch field.

"What did the Dark Lord take from you?" said Moody.

"Blood," said Harry raising his arm. His sleeve was ripped where Wormtail's dagger had torn it.

Moody let out his breath in a long, low hiss.

"And the Death Eaters? They returned?"

"Yes," said Harry. "Loads of them..."

"How did he treat them?" Moody asked quietly. "Did he forgive them?"

But Harry had suddenly remembered. He should have told Dumbledore, he should have said it straightaway—

"There's a Death Eater at Hogwarts! There's a Death Eater here—they put my name in the Goblet of Fire, they made sure I got through to the end—"

Harry tried to get up, but Moody pushed him back down.

"I know who the Death Eater is," he said quietly.

"Karkaroff?" said Harry wildly. "Where is he? Have you got him locked up?"

"Karkaroff?" said Moody with an odd laugh. "Karkaroff fled tonight, when he felt the Dark Mark burn upon his arm. He betrayed too many faithful supporters of the Dark Lord to wish to meet them... but I doubt he will get far. The Dark Lord has ways of tracking his enemies."

"Karkaroff's _gone_? He ran away? But then—he didn't put my name in the goblet?"

"No," said Moody slowly. "No, he didn't. It was I who did that."

Harry heard, but didn't believe.

"No, you didn't," he said. "You didn't do that...you can't have done..."

"I assure you I did," said Moody, and his magical eye swung around and fixed upon the door, and Harry knew he was making sure that there was no one outside it. At the same time, Moody drew out his wand and pointed it at Harry.

"He forgave them, then?" he said. "The Death Eaters who went free? The ones who escaped Azkaban?"

"What?" said Harry.

He was looking at the wand Moody was pointing at him. This was a bad joke, it had to be.

"I asked you," said Moody quietly, "whether he forgave the scum who never even went to look for him. Those treacherous cowards who wouldn't even brave Azkaban for him. The faithless, worthless bits of filth who were brave enough to cavort in masks at the Quidditch World Cup, but fled at the sight of the Dark Mark when I fired it into the sky."

"_You_ fired...What are you talking about...?"

"I told you, Harry... I told you. If there's one thing I hate more than any other, it's a Death Eater who walked free. They turned their backs on my master when he needed them most. I expected him to punish them. I expected him to torture them. Tell me he hurt the, Harry..." Moody's face was suddenly lit with an insane smile. "Tell me he told them that I, I alone remained faithful...prepared to risk everything to deliver to him he wanted above all..._you_."

"You didn't... it—it can't be you..."

"Who put your name in the Goblet of Fire, under the name of a different school? I did. Who frightened off every person I thought might try to hurt or prevent you from winning the tournament? I did. Who nudged Hagrid into showing you the dragons? I did. Who helped you see the only way you could beat the dragon? _I did._"

Moody's magical eye had now left the door. It was fixed upon Harry. His lopsided mouth leered more widely than ever.

"It hasn't been easy, Harry, guiding you through these tasks without arousing suspicion. I have had to use every ounce of cunning I possess, so that my hand would not be detectable in your success. Dumbledore would have been very suspicious if you had managed everything too easily. As long as you got into that maze, preferably with a decent head start— then I knew, I would have a chance of getting rid of the other champions and leaving your way clear. But I also had to contend with your stupidity. The second task...that was when I was most afraid you would fail. I was keeping watch on you, Potter. I knew you hadn't worked out the egg's clue, so I had to give you another hint—"

"You didn't," said Harry hoarsely. "Cedric gave me the clue—"

"Who told Cedric to open it underwater? I did. I trusted that he would pass the information on to you. Decent people are so easy to manipulate, Potter. I was sure Cedric would want to repay you for telling him about the dragons, and so he did. But even then, Potter, even then you seemed likely to fail. I was watching all the time...all those hours in the library. Didn't you realize that the book you needed was in your dormitory all along? I planted it there early on, I have it to the Longbottom boy, don't you remember? _Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean_. It would have told you all you needed to know about gillyweed. I expected you to ask everyone and anyone you could for help. Longbottom would have told you in an instant. But you did not...you did not... You have a streak of pride and independence that might have ruined all.

"So what could I do? Feed you information from another innocent source. You told me at the Yule Ball a house-elf called Dobby had given you a Christmas present, I called the elf to the staffroom to collect some robes for cleaning. I staged a loud conversation with Professor McGonagall about the hostages who had been taken, and whether Potter would think to use gillyweed. And your little elf friend ran straight to Snape's office and then hurried to find you..."

Moody's wand was still pointing directly at Harry's heart. Over his shoulder, foggy shapes were moving in the Foe-Glass on the wall.

"You were so long in that lake, Potter, I thought you had drowned. But luckily, Dumbledore took your idiocy for nobility, and marked you high for it. I breathed again.

"You had an easier time of it than you should have in that maze tonight, of course," said Moody. "I was paroling around it, able to see through the outer hedges, able to curse many obstacles out of your way. I stunned Fleur Delacour as she passed. I put the Imperius Curse on Krum, so that he would finish Diggory and leave your path to the cup clear."

Harry stared at Moody. He just didn't see how this could be... Dumbledore's friend, the famous Auror...the one who had caught so many Death Eaters... It made no sense...no sense at all...

The foggy shapes in the Foe-Glass were sharpening, had become more distinct. Harry could see the outlines of three people over Moody's shoulder, moving closer and closer. But Moody wasn't watching them. His magical eye was upon Harry.

The Dark Lord didn't manage to kill you, Potter, and he _so_ wanted to," whispered Moody. "Imagine how he will reward me when he finds out I have done it for him. I gave you to him—the thing he needed above all to regenerate—and then I killed you for him. I will be honored beyond all other Death Eaters. I will be his dearest, his closest supporter...closer than a son..."

Moody's normal eye was bulging, the magical eye fixed upon Harry. The door was barred, and Harry knew he would never reach his wand in time...

"The Dark Lord and I," said Moody, and he looked completely insane now, towering over Harry, leering down at him, "have much in common. Both of us, for instance, had very disappointing fathers...very disappointing fathers...very disappointing indeed. Both of us have suffered the indignity, Harry, of being named after those fathers. And both of us had the pleasure...the very great pleasure...of killing our fathers to ensure the continued rise of the Dark Order!"

"You're mad," Harry said—he couldn't stop himself—"you're mad!"

"Mad, am I?" said Moody, his voice rising uncontrollably. "We'll see! We'll see who's mad, now that the Dark Lord has returned, with me at his side! He is back, Harry Potter, you did not conquer him—and now—I conquer you!"

Moody raised his wand, he opened his mouth; Harry plunged his own hand into his robes—

"_Stupefy!_" There was a blinding flash of red light, and with great splintering and crashing, the door of Moody's office was blasted apart—

Moody was thrown backward onto the office floor. Harry, still staring at the place where Moody's face had been, saw Albus Dumbledore, Professor Snape, and Professor McGonagall looking back at him out of the Foe-Glass. He looked around and saw the three of them standing in the doorway, Dumbledore in front, his wand outstretched.

At that moment, Harry fully understood for the first time why people said Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort had ever feared. The look upon Dumbledore's face as he stared down at the unconscious form of Mad-Eye Moody was more terrible than Harry could have ever imagined. There was no benign smile upon Dumbledore's face, no twinkle in the eyes behind the spectacles. There was cold fury in every line of the ancient face; a sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he were giving off burning heat.

He stepped into the office, placed a foot underneath Moody's unconscious body, and kicked him over onto his back, so that his face was visible. Snape followed him, looking into the Foe-Glass, where his own face was still visible, glaring into the room. Professor McGonagall went straight to Harry.

"Come along, Potter," she whispered. The thin line of her mouth was twitching as though she was about to cry. "Come along...hospital wing..."

"No," said Dumbledore sharply.

"Dumbledore, he ought to—look at him—he's been through enough tonight—"

"He will stay, Minerva, because he needs to understand," said Dumbledore curtly. "Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. He needs to know who has put him through the ordeal he has suffered tonight, and why."

"Moody," Harry said. He was still in a state of complete disbelief. "How can it have been Moody?"

"This is not Alastor Moody," said Dumbledore quietly. "You have never known Alastor Moody. The real Moody would not have removed you from my sight after what happened tonight. The moment he took you, I knew—and I followed."

Dumbledore bent down over Moody's limp form and out a hand inside his robes. He pulled out Moody's hip flask and a set of keys on a ring. Then he turned to Professor McGonagall and Snape.

"Severus, please fetch me the strongest Truth Potion you possess, and then go down to the kitchens and bring up the house-elf called Winky. Minerva, kindly go down to Hagrid's house, where you will find a large black dog up to my office, tell him I will be with him shortly, then come back here."

If either Snape or McGonagall found these instructions peculiar, they hid their confusion. Both turned at once and left the office. Dumbledore walked over to the trunk with seven locks, fitted the first key in the lock, an opened it. It contained a mass of spellbooks. Dumbledore closed the trunk, placed a second key in the second lock, and opened the trunk again. The spellbooks had vanished; this time it contained an assortment of broken Sneakoscopes, some parchment and quills, and what looked like a silvery Invisibility Cloak. Harry watched, astounded, as Dumbledore placed the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth keys in their respective locks, reopening the trunk each time, and revealing different contents each time. Then he placed the seventh key in the lock, threw open the lid, and Harry let out a cry of amazement,

He was looking down into some kind of pit, an underground room, and lying on the floor some ten feet below, apparently fast asleep, thin and starved in appearance, was the real Mad-Eye Moody. His wooden leg was gone, the socket that should have held the magical eye looked empty beneath its lid, and chunks of his grizzled hair were missing. Harry stared, thunderstruck, between the sleeping Moody in the trunk and the unconscious Moody lying on the floor of the office.

Dumbledore climbed into the trunk, lowered himself, and fell lightly onto the floor beside the sleeping Moody. He bent over him.

Stunned—controlled by the Imperius Curse—very weak," he said. "Of course, they would have needed to keep him alive. Harry, throw down the imposter's cloak—he's freezing. Madam Pomfrey will need to see him, but he seems in no immediate danger."

Harry did as he was told; Dumbledore covered Moody in the cloak, tucked it around him, and clambered out of the trunk again. Then he picked up the hip flask that stood upon the desk, unscrewed it, and turned it over. A thick, glutinous liquid splattered onto the office floor.

"Polyjuice Potion, Harry," said Dumbledore. "You see the simplicity of it, and the brilliance. For Moody never _does_ drink except from his hip flask, he's well known for it. The imposter needed, of course, to keep the real Moody close by, so that he could continue making the potion. You see his hair..." Dumbledore looked down on the Moody in the trunk. "The imposter has been cutting it off all year, see where it is uneven? But I think, in the excitement of tonight, our fake Moody might have forgotten to take it as frequently as he should have done...on the hour...every hour... We shall see."

Dumbledore pulled out the chair at the desk and sat down upon it, his eyes fixed upon the unconscious Moody on the floor. Harry stared at him too. Minutes passed in silence...

Then, before Harry's very eyes, the face of the man on the floor began to change. The scars were disappearing, the skin was becoming smooth; the mangled nose became whole and started to shrink. The long mane of grizzled gray hair was withdrawing into the scalp and turning the color of straw. Suddenly, with a loud _clunk_, the wooden leg fell away as a normal leg regrew in its place; next moment, the magical eyeball had popped out of the man's face as a real eye replaced it; it rolled away across the floor and continued to swivel in every direction.

Harry saw a man lying before him, pale-skinned, slightly freckled, with a mop of fair hair. He knew who he was. He had seen him in Dumbledore's Pensieve, had watched him being led away from court by the dementors, trying to convince Mr. Crouch that he was innocent...but he was lined around the eyes now and looked much older...

There were hurried footsteps outside in the corridor. Snape had returned with Winky at his heels. Professor McGonagall was right behind them.

"Crouch!" Snape said, stopping dead in the doorway. "Barty Crouch!"

"Good heavens," said Professor McGonagall, stopping dead and staring down at the man on the floor.

Filthy, disheveled, Winky peered around Snape's legs. Her mouth opened wide and she let out a piercing shriek.

"Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you doing here?"

She flung herself forward onto the man's chest.

"You is killed him! You is killed him! You is killed Master's son!"

"He is simply Stunned, Winky," said Dumbledore. "Step aside, please. Severus, you have the potion?"

Snape handed Dumbledore a small glass bottle of completely clear liquid: the Veritaserum with which he had threatened Harry in class. Dumbledore got up, bent over the man on the floor, and pulled him into a sitting position against the wall beneath the Foe-Glass, in which the reflections of Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall were still glaring down upon them all. Winky remained on her knees, trembling, her hands over her face. Dumbledore forced the man's mouth open and poured three drops inside it. Then he pointed his wand at the man's chest and said, "_Rennervate._"

Crouch's son opened his eyes. His face was slack, his gaze unfocused. Dumbledore knelt before him, so that their faces were level.

"Can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

The man's eyes flickered.

"Yes," he muttered.

"I would like you to tell us," said Dumbledore softly, "how you came to be here. How did you escape from Azkaban?"

Crouch took a deep, shuddering breath, then began to speak in a flat, expressionless voice.

My mother saved me. She knew she was dying. She persuaded my father to rescue me as a last favor to her. He loved her as he had never loved me. He agreed. They came to visit me. They gave me a draught of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my mother's hairs she took a draught of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my hairs. We took on each other's appearance."

"Say no more, Master Barty, say no more, you is getting your father into trouble.

But Crouch took another deep breath and continued in the same flat voice.

The dementors are blind. They sensed one healthy, one dying person entering Azkaban. They sensed one healthy, one dying person leaving it. My father smuggled me out, disguised as my mother, in case any prisoners were watching through their doors.

"My mother died a short while afterward in Azkaban. She was careful to drink Polyjuice Potion until the end. She was buried under my name and bearing my appearance. Everyone believed her to be me."

The man's eyes flickered.

And what did your father do with you, when he had got you home?" said Dumbledore quietly.

"Staged my mother's death. A quiet, private funeral. That grace is empty. The house-elf nursed me back to health. Then I had to be concealed. I had to be controlled. My father had to use a number of spells to subdue me. When I had recovered my strength, I thought only of finding my master...of returning to his service."

"How did your father subdue you?" said Dumbledore.

"The Imperius Curse," Crouch said. "I was under my father's control. I was forced to wear an Invisibility Cloak day and night. I was always with the house-elf. She was my keeper and caretaker. She pitied me. She persuaded my father to give me occasional treats. Rewards for my good behavior."

"Master Barty, Master Barty," sobbed Winky through her hands. "You isn't ought to tell them, we is getting in trouble..."

"Did anybody ever discover you were alive?" said Dumbledore softly. "Did anyone know except your father and the house-elf?"

"Yes," said Crouch, his eyes flickering again. "A witch in my father's office. Bertha Jorkins. She came to the house with papers for my father's signature. He was not at home. Winky showed her inside and returned to the kitchen, to me. But Bertha Jorkins heard Winky talking to me. She came to investigate. She heard enough to guess who was hiding under the Invisibility Cloak. My father arrived home. She confronted him. He put a very powerful Memory Charm on her to make her forget what she'd found out. Too powerful. He said it damaged her memory permanently."

"Why is she coming to nose into my master's business?" sobbed Winky. "Why isn't she leaving us be?"

"Tell me about the Quidditch World Cup," said Dumbledore.

"Winky talked my father into it," said Crouch, still in the same monotonous voice. "She spent months persuading him. I had not left the house for years. I had loved Quidditch. Let him go, she said. He will be in his Invisibility Cloak. He can watch. Let him smell fresh air for once. She said my mother would have wanted it. She told my father that my mother had died to give me freedom. She had not saved me for a life of imprisonment. He agreed in the end.

"It was carefully planned. My father led me and Winky up to the Top Box early in the day. Winky was to say that she was saving a seat in the box for my father. I was to sit there, invisible. When everyone had left the box, we would emerge. Winky would appear to be alone. Nobody would ever know.

"But Winky didn't know that I was growing stronger. I was starting to fight my father's Imperius Curse. There were times when I was almost myself again. There were brief periods when I seemed outside his control. It happened, there, in the Top Box. It was like walking from a deep sleep. I found myself out in public, in the middle of the match, and I saw, in front of me, a wand sticking out of a boy's pocket. I had not been allowed a wand since before Azkaban. I stole it. Winky didn't know. Winky is frightened of heights. She had her face hidden."

"Master Barty, you bad boy!" whispered Winky, tears trickling between her fingers.

"So you took the wand," said Dumbledore, "and what did you do with it?"

"We went back to the tent," said Crouch. "Then we heard them. We heard the Death Eaters. The ones who had never been to Azkaban. The ones who had never suffered for my master. They had turned their backs on him. They were not enslaved, as I was. They were free to seek him, but they did not. They were merely making sport of Muggles. The sound of their voices awoke me. My mind was clearer than it had been in years. I was angry. I had the wand. I wanted to attack them for their disloyalty to my master. My father had left the tent; he had gone to free the Muggles. Winky was afraid to see me so angry. She used her own brand of magic to bind me to her. She pulled me from the tent, pulled me into the forest, away from the Death Eaters. I tried to hold her back. I wanted to return to the campsite. I wanted to show those Death Eaters what loyalty to the Dark Lord meant, and to punish them for their lack of it. I used the stolen wand to cast the Dark Mark into the sky.

"Ministry wizards arrived. They shot Stunning Spells everywhere. One of the spells came through the trees where Winky and I stood. The bond connecting us was broken. We were both Stunned.

"When Winky was discovered, my father knew I must be nearby. He searched the bushes where she had been found and felt me lying there. He waited until the other Ministry members had left the forest. He put me back under the Imperius Curse and took me home. He dismissed Winky. She had failed him. She had let me acquire a wand. She had almost let me escape."

Winky let out a wail of despair.

"Now it was just Father and I, alone in the house. And then... and then..." Crouch's head rolled on his neck, and an insane grin spread across his face. "My master came for me.

"He arrived at our house late one night in the arms of his servant, Wormtail. My master had found out that I was still alive. He had captured Bertha Jorkins in Albania. He had tortured her. She told him a great deal. She told him about the Triwizard Tournament. She told him the old Auror, Moody, was going to teach at Hogwarts. He tortured her until he broke through the Memory Charm my father had placed upon her. She told him I had escaped from Azkaban. She told him my father kept me imprisoned to prevent me from seeking my master. And so my master knew that I was still his faithful servant— perhaps the most faithful of all. My master conceived a plan, based upon the information Bertha had given him. He needed me. He arrived at our house near midnight. My father answered the door."

The smile spread wider over Crouch's face, as though recalling the sweetest memory of his life. Winky's petrified brown eyes were visible through her fingers. She seemed too appalled to speak.

"It was very quick. My father was placed under the Imperius Curse by my master. Now my father was the one imprisoned, controlled. My master forced him to go about his business as usual, to act as though nothing was wrong. And I was released. I awoke. I was myself again, alive as I hadn't been in years.

"And what did Lord Voldemort ask you to do?" said Dumbledore.

"He asked me whether I was ready to risk everything for him. I was ready. It was my dream, my greatest ambition, to serve him, to prove myself to him. He told me he needed to place a faithful servant at Hogwarts. A servant who would guide Harry Potter through the Triwizard Tournament without appearing to do so. A servant who would watch over Harry Potter. Ensure he reached the Triwizard Cup. Turn the cup into a Portkey, which would take the first person to touch it to my master. But first—"

"You needed Alastor Moody," said Dumbledore. His blue eyes were blazing, though his voice remained calm.

"Wormtail and I did it. We had prepared the Polyjuice Potion beforehand. We journeyed to his house. Moody put up a struggle. There was a commotion. We managed to subdue him just in time. Forced him into a compartment of his own magical trunk. Took some of his hair and added it to the potion. I drank it; I became Moody's double. I took his leg and his eye. I was ready to face Arthur Weasley when he arrived to sort out the Muggles who had heard a disturbance. I made the dustbins move around the yard. I told Arthur Weasley I had heard intruders in my yard, who had set off the dustbins. Then I packed up Moody's clothes and Dark Detectors, put them in the trunk with Moody, and set off for Hogwarts. I kept him alive, under the Imperius Curse. I wanted to be able to question him. To find out about his past, learn his habits, so I could fool even Dumbledore. I also needed his hair to make Polyjuice Potion. The other ingredients were easy. I stole boomslang skin from the dungeons. When the Potions master questioned me in his office, I said I was under orders to search it."

"And what became of Wormtail after you attacked Moody?" said Dumbledore.

"Wormtail returned to care for my master, in my father's house, and to keep watch over my father."

"But your father escaped," said Dumbledore.

"Yes. After a while he began to fight the Imperius Curse just as I had done. There were periods when he knew what was happening. My master decided it was no longer safe for my father to leave the house. He forced him to send letters to the Ministry instead. He made him write and say he was ill. But Wormtail neglected his duty. He was not watchful enough. My father escaped. My master guessed that he was heading over to Hogwarts. My father was going to tell Dumbledore everything, to confess. He was going to admit that he had smuggled me from Azkaban.

"My master sent me word of my father's escape. He told me to stop him at all costs. So I waited and watched. I used the map I had taken from Harry Potter. The map that had almost ruined everything."

"Map?" said Dumbledore quickly. "What map is this?"

"Potter's map of Hogwarts. Potter saw me on it. Potter saw me stealing more ingredients for the Polyjuice Potion from Snape's office one night. He though I was my father. We have the same first name, I took the map from Potter that night. I told him my father hated Dark wizards. Potter believed my father was after Snape.

"For a week I waited for my father to arrive at Hogwarts. At last, one evening, the map showed my father entering the grounds. I pulled on my Invisibility Cloak and went down to meet him, he was walking around the edge of the forest. Then Potter came, and Krum. I waited. I could not hurt Potter; my master needed him. Potter ran to get Dumbledore. I Stunned Krum. I killed my father."

"_Noooo!_" wailed Winky. "Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you saying?"

"You killed your father," Dumbledore said in the same soft voice. "What did you do with the body?"

"Carried it into the forest. Covered it with the Invisibility Cloak. I had the map with me. I watched Potter run into the castle. He met Snape. Dumbledore joined them. I watched Potter bringing Dumbledore out of the castle. I walked back out of the forest, doubled around behind them, went to meet them. I told Dumbledore Snape had told me where to come.

"Dumbledore told me to go and look for my father. I went back to my father's body. Watched the map. When everyone was gone, I Transfigured my father's body. He became a bone... I buried it, while wearing the Invisibility Cloak, in the freshly dug earth in front of Hagrid's cabin."

There was complete silence now, except for Winky's continued sobs. Then Dumbledore said, "And tonight..."

"I offered to carry the Triwizard Cup into the maze before dinner," whispered Barty Crouch. "Turned it into a Portkey. My master's plan worked. He is returned to power and I will be honored by him beyond the dreams of wizards."

The insane smile lit his features once more, and his head drooped onto his shoulders as Winky wailed and sobbed at his side. As everything faded, Albus, along with the others watched in horror while the scene around them swirled before disappearing.

Sorry you guys. I realized how boring this chapter is if you read the Goblet of Fire. But I had to put it in so everyone could see what happened. It won't ever happen again!


	16. Chapter 16: The Witnesses' Questionings

Chapter 16: The Questionings of the Witnesses

Albus' mind still couldn't drink in what all he had seen and heard in this past two hours. It was like he had gone to sleep and dreamed about all this. It was like he would wake up and find out that he had his questioning today and wouldn't get any answers to his questions at all! Everything was a bit blurry as the side effects of the Pensieve took over him.

"Well, that was it. A bit intimidating and overwhelming actually, but there you have your answers. Now, tell me if you have any questions at all, okay?" said Ron warmly.

"Yes, you know who Wormtail is too, don't you?" asked Harry bitterly.

Wormtail, or Peter Pettigrew actually, was one out of the four Marauders, a small school group consisting of four people. Albus' grandfather, James Potter who James Sirius Potter, Albus' brother, is named after. Sirius Black, who James is also named after. Remus Lupin, who was a werewolf, but also very good. He was bitten by someone who his father had offended. A very renowned and dangerous werewolf: Fenrir Greyback. And, unfortunately, a cowardly rat by the name of Peter Pettigrew. They all teamed up and worked hard to become Animagi, witches or wizards that transfigure into an animal nonverbally and wandlessly to help Remus during the full moons. Peter Pettigrew betrayed Albus' grandparents, Lily and James Potter, and got them killed by Voldemort.

"Yes, I've got one. You never said anything about Cedric Diggory dying. You said it was too much for our little minds to take in," said Rose raising her eyebrows.

"Yes, and it still is too much. We won't be telling you the _exact_ details until you're old enough to drink Firewhiskey, Apparate, perform magic outside of school, yeah, yeah, yeah, " smirked Hermione.

Rose crossed her arms angrily before huffing, "Humph! Fine then!"

Harry sighed before suddenly switching to serious mode. Even the atmosphere suddenly became serious. "Well, you guys don't have lessons at all until the questionings, so you can just hang out until Friday then," he said seriously, his voice a perfect match with his face.

The kids nodded. "Let's get back to the common room then," said Ron before motioning for the kids to walk out and following them.

"So what do you think they're going to ask tomorrow?" whispered Rose to Scorpius, Merope, and Albus.

"Well, just, I dunno, what did he look like, maybe?" suggested Merope, giving a look that said, 'Yes, no?'.

"They know what he looks like!" snapped Scorpius irritably.

"Well, I don't know, okay? Do you have any ideas Mr. I-Know-Everything?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. And thank you for that compliment. One thing I take pride in being a Malfoy is my 'I-Know-Everything' feature," smirked Scorpius.

"And what is that idea, may I ask?" piped up Rose, taking her fellow girl's side.

"It's- it's- Scorpius, it's?" stammered Albus, trying, but failing miserably to help his fellow boy.

"What did he say!" said Scorpius overdramatically, pointing his finger ahead which is an obvious sign of just now figuring out the answer.

"Ha! You just came up with it!" said Merope victoriously.

"What? That-that's not true at all. Why would you think that?" stuttered Scorpius guiltily.

The girls just sighed before rolling their eyes.

"Well, we'd better get to sleep now, we've got the questioning tomorrow, remember? We just finished guessing what the questions were going to be," joked Albus.

The foursome started to get up before quickly scurrying up to their dorms.

_Tomorrow's going to be a long day_ thought Albus before sighing.

"We're sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, that's too many people at once. Only one of you can come in. Talk amongst yourselves now and decide," said one of the people from the Investigation Department who were questioning the kids about the Christmas incident.

Everyone turned to Hermione, knowing she was the gentlest one out of them all. Except for Mrs. Malfoy, who didn't really know her much. She just did it because everyone else was. That seemed right to Albus.

Hermione looked around awkwardly before stepping ahead.

"Okay, come on in then, Mrs. Weasley," said one of the questioners, being extra kind to their boss' boss.

They walked in and sat down in the chairs laid out.

"Well, let's start with names. I know all four of your names, no need for that. I am Mr. Shafiq," said Mr. Shafiq, "and I am the Head of the Investigation Department. Your dad is my boss, and your aunt, present in this room, is my, well, super-boss you could call it. This here is Mr. Prince, I am _his boss_ and your dad is his super-boss, and your aunt is his, well, super-super-boss."

Albus could totally tell that this guy was being fake-nice. He obviously just wanted to get it over with.

"Hi, I'm Mr. Prince, nice to meet you all," said Mr. Prince warmly. _He seems genuinely nice_ thought Albus.

"Well, first question, how did Bartemius Crouch Jr. confront you? And yes I am aware that only three out of the four of you can answer this question," said Mr. Shafiq quickly. "So, I would appreciate if we could start from the left and just skip Mr. Potter for this question."

Scorpius was sitting on the far left, so he was going first. "Well, I was following Rose and Merope to the bathroom because Rose wasn't feeling too well, and Albus was going to get Mrs. Weasley, when we went to the bathroom, Rose started throwing up, and we didn't realize that there was someone right behind us until we turned around. And we were at the last sink to the wall unfortunately, so we backed to the wall while he said some stuff we couldn't understand like turning someone into a ferret or helping them through a contest. It was weird. And then, we saw Mrs. Weasley outside the door which was opened. Crouch turned around and sent a curse at her, she didn't have time to get her wand since she had no idea he would be there. Then, she just said, 'Crouch' before screaming. And then, five seconds later, Albus appeared beside us. And then Crouch said stuff like a reunion and stuff about the adults when they were at Hogwarts, and then Albus silently pulled out his wand, he was the only one that had it with him, and _Flipendoed_ Crouch while he was distracted, then everything just became a blur because there were so many people running around the place. And then Albus disappeared, and we were taken out. And then we went—"

"That will be enough. Now, do you two have anything different?" asked Mr. Shafiq rudely.

"Mr. Shafiq, please excuse me, I am here as the adult to help and comfort the children, but as your super-boss, the way you are taking this questioning is not legally correct. I favor it because it doesn't make all the children have to talk about the incident, but this is not the way a questioning should go," said Hermione prudently.

"Well Mrs. Weasley, like you said, you are not here for work reasons, and as you also said, you favor this way, so why should you object?" said Mr. Shafiq in that same prudent voice.

Hermione sighed before rolling her eyes and saying, "Look Shafiq, I honestly _don't _have the energy to deal with you, so just go on with what you're doing."

Mr. Shafiq's fake smile disappeared and became a sneer as he continued.

"Okay, next question, Miss Riddle will answer. What age did he look like? Did he look very old, or young?"

"Hold on a second," started Hermione. "I really don't want to deal with you Shafiq, but all of us saw that too, there's no need to trouble the children with such a question. I couldn't tell you the answer, but some of the Hogwarts staff can, many of your fellow Ministry workers can, the other Aurors that have been staying at Hogwarts can." She raised her eyebrows before adding in a soft voice, "And right now, I _am_speaking as your, what do you call it? 'Super-boss'. I would appreciate if Mr. Prince here asks the questions. What I mean to say is, he's not trying to give off a radiance that shouts, 'I am much superior to everyone else around me'."

Mr. Shafiq gave her a truly evil look filled with annoyance and hatred before saying softly, "Fine." He turned to Mr. Prince and gave him the paper he was reading from before turning back to Hermione and saying, "Happy?"

"Very."

"Good, then."

"Okay, Merope, you may answer this one. What did his wand look like? If you don't know the answer, then that's okay, someone else out of the four of you can answer," said Mr. Prince kindly. Genuinely kindly.

"Well, I don't really know, he kept on moving it too quickly," said Merope nervously.

"Does anyone else know?" asked Mr. Prince.

None of the kids said anything.

"I could tell you," said Hermione. "It looked like hornbeam wood and was at least 11 inches. That's all I know."

"Very well, thank you Hermione. We'll take a look at it. We just wanted to ask the question to make sure it was the right one," said Mr. Prince.

Mr. Prince asked a few more questions which anyone of them who knew could answer, before saying they were free to go.

The kids walked out to see their parents (except for Merope who just walked out) waiting for them. There were also some people from the Ministry, most likely to question Albus.

"Albus, let's go in, come on," said Harry quietly, holding Albus' hand. They followed the other questioners in to the same classroom as before and took their seats in the chairs.

"Okay, this won't take long Albus, we'll be out before you know it, okay?" whispered Harry.

Albus nodded.

"Okay, well, this is Mr. Malkyn and I'm Ms. Neltern. This shouldn't take too long; we just want to ask you a few questions on how you transported yourself from the Great Hall to the bathroom and back. First, just tell me how you felt, what emotions you felt before this happened. Because we're pretty sure this happened because of the emotions you felt," said Ms. Neltern.

"Well, I heard my Aunt Hermione say 'Crouch', and I had heard the Aurors talking about him the other day, and knew he wasn't the best person on Earth. And I felt really scared and worried for my friends and thought why I couldn't be there with them. And then everything became a blur and I closed my eyes because it gave me the illusion that I was going to get something in it. And when I opened my eyes, I was in the bathroom," Albus explained.

"I see, okay and tell me about when you went back to the Great Hall," asked Ms. Neltern.

"I was just kind of surprised about what just happened, and was just looking at everyone scrambling around the place, and then I had that same feeling, everything became a blur and to avoid getting anything in my eyes, I closed them and when I opened them, I was in the Great Hall."

"Okay, now tell me what you felt when you transported to the bathroom in that brief moment when you closed your eyes?" questioned Ms. Neltern as Mr. Malkyn took notes.

"I-I-I don't remember. I think I felt the same as before, I didn't realize what was going on. I didn't realize I was moving anywhere," replied Albus.

"Oh, okay. Now tell me what you felt physically during that same moment," said Ms. Neltern.

"Well, it was extremely windy."

"Did it feel like you were being squeezed through a tiny rubber tube?"

"No. Definitely not."

"Okay, well, that's all we'll be asking now. Have a great day," said Ms. Neltern warmly.

Sorry I had to take off and put back on these chapters. I should've checked. Chapter 17 will NOT be the last chapter. I can't stop it there! But Chapter 17 will be the last update in this chain :( Sorry.


	17. Chapter 17: Birthday!

So... Sorry this will be the last update for this chain...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything!

Chapter 17: Birthday!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALBUS!" screamed a loud voice. Well that was rude, waking someone up when they're sleeping peacefully. And worse, on a Saturday morning! The voices, is what Albus heard. It was a bunch of people screaming.

"What the Merlin?!" he exclaimed alarmed.

He opened his eyes a millimeter and saw his dorm mates (including Scorpius), Merope, and Rose's heads above his, beaming at him.

"I'm twelve, aren't I?" he asked, knowing it's his birthday.

"Well, actually, you are right about…" started Rose, looking at her magical watch. "Now." Suddenly, confetti appeared and scattered down, covering the tweens.

"It's 8:12 a.m. on January 5th right now, isn't it?" asked Albus, knowing it was 8:12 a.m. on January 5th.

Rose gave a nod.

"Happy birthday," everyone said again.

Albus sighed and said, "Thanks everyone. I'm going for my shower. Then I can open my presents." He rubbed his hands humorously at the mention of presents.

He was twelve years old now! And in a year, he'd be thirteen, thus, a teenager! Oh, being a teen would be great!

Albus quickly stepped into the shower and came out of the bathroom within 4 minutes, not being able to take the wait any longer.

"Oh, good, you're out. Let's go to the Aurors' tent outside the common room. We're doing presents there. We have it all planned out for you!" exclaimed Merope.

Albus beamed at her and followed the rest of them.

"Happy birthday!" greeted Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They had stayed back for Albus' birthday.

"Well, let's get those presents open then," said Albus, clapping his hands together.

"Okay, I'll go first!" Mack exclaimed happily. He took out his wrapped gift from behind a couch? _I wonder if everyone's gifts are hidden like that_ thought Albus curiously.

Mack handed his gift to Albus who opened it eagerly. It was a Headless Hat, another Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product. Albus smiled at Mack and said, "Thanks so much, Mack! This will be sure to scare quite a few people!" He knew Mack meant well, but Albus could get Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products anytime. His uncle founded it!

Mack gave a mischievous grin.

"I'll go next!" said Scorpius quickly. He walked over to the fireplace and reached in to pull out a present, then handed it to Albus. He opened it quickly and found a notepad. But it wasn't just a regular notepad, it was charmed to only let the person with the password to read and write in it. It was made for passing notes in class. To give the password, all one must do is write it anywhere in the notepad. And it gave no clue whatsoever that the person must write a password, so the teachers can be fooled too.

The present got some compliments from quite a bit of people. The only people it didn't get a compliment from, but a criticism, was Rose, Merope, and Hermione.

"Oooh, where did you get this from, Scorpius?" asked Gary, interested.

"I made it. Well the spell part," said Scorpius sheepishly.

"Wow, Scorpius, though I don't approve of its use, I'm impressed," complimented Rose.

"Thanks," Scorpius replied modestly.

"Can I go next?!" exclaimed Gary. He went over to a couch and pulled out a present from underneath it! He handed it to Albus who eagerly opened the big present.

It was a huge box filled with all kinds of candies! Wizarding and Muggle! The sight of it made Albus want to eat it all right now! Though he doubted Aunt Hermione would allow that. "Thank you so much Gary! I love this!" he exclaimed.

Gary grinned at him.

Brody didn't even say anything before Albus noticed him make his way over to the rug and reach under it. He held a small present in his hand which he gave to Albus. He opened it to find a, well, it must be called a DVD he thought. For a muggle television.

"Er, it's a DVD, right?" asked Albus politely.

"Yep, I'm sure you have a television at your house right?" said Brody.

Albus turned to his dad. "Er, we do, but I'm really not sure where. I think it's stored up somewhere," said Harry.

"Oh, that's okay, we have one. A TV, of course, I just don't understand how wizards and witches live without TV," said Hermione quickly. "Of course, not that I watch TV all the time, but… Hey, why don't you go next Merope?"

Merope smiled excitedly before reaching under a sofa and pulling out Albus' present. He smiled and took it before almost maniacally opening it to see what his crush gave him.

He peered inside the box before taking the top off and finding a painting. It was a painting of the two of them! It was really very well painted! They were inside the common room and they were sitting beside each other on the couch next to the fireplace that seated one, but they were squeezed in.

Albus didn't have to say anything for Merope to know how much he loved it. His eyes spoke.

Albus was so intrigued in that, he didn't notice Rose pull out his gift! He took the present out of her hand when he noticed, and opened it up to find a-a-a school planner! Albus wasn't too happy about that, until he saw the pictures inside of it. For each week, it had Wizarding pictures of the two of them through their childhood so far! _It's a wonderful gift! It's so sweet_ thought Albus happily.

"Rose, I really, really, really love it! Well, at least the photo part," said Albus.

Rose smiled happily.

"Here you go," said Hermione cheerily, who had decided not to hide her present like a mature adult.

Albus tore off the wrapping paper, not so eagerly, because come on, when has Hermione been non-educational?

Inside the box was a pack of different colored pens, and a few notebooks which corrected any incorrect educational information.

"Oh, wow. Thanks so much, Aunt Hermione. I-I really like it," said Albus half-heartedly.

"Albus, I'm not stupid. Look inside the yellow notebook," replied Aunt Hermione.

Albus opened the yellow notebook to find a box of Chocolate Frogs! His favorite!

Albus suddenly brightened up. "I love these!"

Hermione smiled, "I know, that's why I gave them to you."

"Here you go Albus, this one is from me, and this one is from your mum," said Ron cheerfully.

Albus took the present from his mum and opened it, not at all wondering what the long present, narrow on one side and fat on the other, could be. It was a new broom! The Flamebolt 1000!

Albus had a Firebolt 5050 before. It wasn't a brand new broom, but it was pretty cool. Since the only place Albus played was with his cousins at home, he didn't really need a super pro broom. But everyone knew he was going to try out for Chaser in second year!

But the Flamebolt 1000 was the best broom around! It was the newest one that had come out but last week! Of course, his mum would've gotten it for him; she was a former Holyhead Harpies player! She loved Quidditch!

Albus' face showed a sign of huge happiness! This was great! He had wanted this broom for a while! Of course, his family was very rich, but he didn't need every new broom that came out.

"I'll have to thank Mum for this! I love it so much!" exclaimed Albus excitedly.

Albus opened Ron's present to find a book by the name of: '10 Easy Ways to Charm a Witch (Not Literally)'.

Hermione frowned at that, but let it slide when Ron told her he used that to 'charm' her.

"Here you go Albus," said Harry humorously, still chuckling from Ron's gift to his son.

Albus took the square shaped present and opened it. It was a Defense against the Dark Arts kit. It had theory _and_ things to practice on! Albus was overjoyed! He loved Defense against the Dark Arts! Especially with their teacher: Professor Caryn, a fun-loving woman who took joy in teaching Defense.

"Don't worry Albus; these aren't _all_ your presents. Having a humongous family _does_ have its benefits," joked Ron.

Albus smiled happily. This was going to be a great birthday!


End file.
